11 Oldest Pearl Harbor Survivors (Updated 2021) December 7, 1941 is a date that everyone in America has committed to memory. DES MOINES, Iowa - A World War II veteran thought to be the oldest survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack died last month at 103. A month after the Coral Sea battle, Cook's ship was part of the American forces in the critical Battle of Midway. It never returned, crippled in the Battle of the Coral Sea and scuttled by the Navy to keep the enemy from salvaging her. As he prepared to jump off the burning ship, he took the shoes off and set them on the quarterdeck. Hetrick saw a new opportunity and joined. Haerry accepts the chocolate bars his son has brought him. The license plate reads USS ARIZ. A mural on a white bed cover depicts the USS Arizona and the memorial that floats above it in Pearl Harbor. And he was aboard on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese bombed the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, a pivotal moment in history, but one that struck Anderson to his core. "This shows where all the ships were," he says, pointing at a map depicting Pearl Harbor on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. He touches the diving helmet. "He called me one night and said if you won't let me come to California, I found a lady who's got a new black Buick and I'm going to move to Texas.". "Are there any officers from the Arizona here?" Joe had met Elizabeth McGauhy in Chicago half a decade earlier. Sailors jumped into fires to escape sinking vessels. Before the big battleship could leave Puget Sound, Anderson volunteered for another mission, joining the small Asiatic Fleet along the coast of China. The United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941, the day following the attack on Pearl Harbor. 39 Interesting Pearl Harbor Facts | Pearl Harbor Warbirds Would Ken be willing to go as a guest of honor? Calhoun told Conter to put in for the assignment. By the time the woman from Illinois found him, he was ready to face his past. She tracked him to the Los Angeles area, then started a phone search. "I had to start training the new recruits on every machine," Bruner said. An avocado tree grows in the backyard. He said, 'whatever I can get out of you.' In early January, Conter visited his young lady friend again and again, Admiral Calhoun was there. Three years later, Ray Haerry Jr. holds the cross in his hand, fighting back tears. Schenkelberg was no stranger to hardships . Haerry ran away from home to join the Navy. Potts returned to Illinois in late 1945 to await his formal discharge, hanging out in Chicago. Not long after he returned to Pearl Harbor near the end of the war, Anderson searched out some of the battle reports from Dec. 7, 1941. He wasn't happy where he was, so he loaded up his big 12-cylinder Lincoln Zephyr and headed west. I heard the general say, 'You're a remarkable guy.' They would be married in San Francisco, before the Frazier set sail. He wanted to interview Langdell for his project. Finally, the four U.S. destroyers were ordered to mount a torpedo run. As he prepared for his new posting on the Frazier, Langdell decided to make a move. He returns his attention to the cranes and the catapults that flung the seaplanes into flight. The day when they assigned him and a crew of divers to a motor launch and sent them to the Arizona to remove bodies of dead sailors. Guns. As he waited, he had a feeling he knew what would happen, but he didn't say anything. Did he know anything about meteorology? What Do Sharks Eat [2022] Great Whites & Many More Species "The hat represents the Arizona. McBride reached the last man, Raymond Haerry, a 20-year-old coxswain on the day of the assault. A painting of the Arizona hangs on the wall of a sitting room. After Pearl Harbor, Langdell asked for a posting on one of the new destroyers the Navy was set to launch. He and his father chat a little. "I'm planning to marry your wife's sister, but I've got to have somebody take my place at work. The job paid $700. For a long time, Haerry never talked about his experiences at Pearl Harbor. Clayton Schenkelberg, who was born in 1917 in Iowa and joined the U.S. Navy in 1937, died in a senior care facility April 14 in San Diego. He had escaped the USS Arizona, the battleship whose losses surpassed any other. In 1940, Anderson reported to the Arizona once more, joining his brother for the first time since they had enlisted. An aerial view of "Battleship Row" at Pearl Harbor, photographed from a Japanese aircraft during the the bombing. is clu gulager still alive did sharks attack titanic survivors. It turned out little was the right word. "I just got discharged. By then, he'd seen the world, witnessed history before it was history. He says that decision was the best thing he could have done. His story is always in demand, though he'd just as soon not tell it in front of a lot of people. Bruner toured Nagasaki in a Jeep with other Navy officers and chief mates. At Kulangsu, an international settlement on an island off the southern Chinese coast, Anderson's unit ran into the French Foreign Legion, who had been cornered by Japanese soldiers on a high ridge. "The sea was real rough when it came in and the sharks started gathering around. "We made so many landings," Anderson said. He liked teaching and liked the chance to instill discipline. "I'd never seen so many guys with so much guts," he said. The guns used the same type of control mechanisms Bruner had mastered on the Arizona. As the 50thanniversary of the attack neared, Langdell got a call from a documentary filmmaker. He worked his way up to crew chief on a squadron of B-26 bombers, After 18 months overseas, he returned to Langley Field in Virginia. Hetrick recovered. did sharks eat pearl harbor victimssig sauer minimalist folding stock. Calhoun quizzed Conter about his posting, his job on the ship. The men helped one another, holding up anyone who weakened. Whale sharks are found in warm waters in the Pacific . "I put on two life jackets," Hetrick said. He put the disc on a turntable and dropped the needle. Pearl Harbor (2001) - IMDb The Navy loaded 5,000 bunks on board, along with a row of portable latrines, and the Saratoga sailed to San Francisco, passing under the Golden Gate Bridge with toilet paper streamers and thousands of sailors who needed something to do. The Coghlan supported Army landings and Navy bombing runs. Bruner was put in charge of the gun batteries. Anderson picked up and moved to New Mexico. Lonnie finally retired from welding in 1982 and in 1994, the Cooks moved back to Morris. The Pentagon said Tuesday it would exhume and try to identify the remains of nearly 400 sailors and Marines killed when the USS Oklahoma sank in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. what is florentine milan straw. They could ride to the mainland then and leave for Florida. "We got halfway there and I told them to turn around," Conter said. Sometimes we never landed, but we kept the line, always watching out for kamikazes.". The Coghlan approached the Aleutians in October, as winter was pushing fall aside. "He said, 'I had survival training in the ocean. The Solace dispatched motor boats to the Arizona to rescue wounded sailors and her crew pulled others from the water. did sharks eat pearl harbor victimsi miss you text art copy and paste. He saw Gene LaRocque, a man he'd served with aboard the Macdonough. "Would you like a job?" He was attending midshipman's school at Northwestern University. If they found anything that belonged to the Navy or hadn't been approved, they'd take it. north but again I'm not a shark expert. "I don't think I'll ever forget what I saw that day.". Pearl Harbor: Attack, Deaths & Facts - HISTORY "I decided I'd do whatever they told me to. The Japanese military had established strategic outposts in the Aleutian Islands and had its eye on Alaska. "We won't get in," Conter said. Lou Conter is telling the story of the night his patrol bomber was shot down seven miles off the coast of New Guinea, dumping the seaplane's 10-man crew into the Pacific Ocean. Afterward, Langdell sought out other survivors who had formed reunion organizations. "When I got back home, my doctors here wanted to know about my medical background," Bruner said. Put in eight years at least and you'll have a pension, he promised. The Coghlan's crew battled just to keep the guns free of ice as they headed toward their next target. The easy stories he'd tell. He first visited the Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor on the 50thanniversary of the attack and has returned since. The crew was evacuated and another U.S. destroyer scuttled the Lexington to keep the Japanese from capturing her. / Reuters. Hetrick slept on the battleship USS Tennessee, which had been moored just ahead of the Arizona along Ford Island. As a tender, he stayed on the surface, monitoring the divers working on rigs, piers, pipelines, any piece of seaside or seagoing equipment. Hetrick still likes to talk about the new shoes he bought the day before the attack in Honolulu. He wanted men with eyes set in the right place on their face. "When somebody says get out of here and you're on a hundred tons of ammunition, well, you don't question it," he says. His oldest son had joined the Navy and his first posting was aboard the USS Ouellet, a frigate. A sailor on the repair ship Vestal, tied up nearby, spotted them and threw them a line. Many places around the world are named for a stand-out feature, and Pearl Harbor is no different. Before the end of the war, he went to San Diego for gunner's mate school. Bruner, who turned 94 in November, is now one of nine living USS Arizona crewmen who survived the ship's sinking. A sailor on the deck of the repair ship Vestal spotted the men and threw a line across. Stratton climbed to his feet and, biting back the pain, he stood and when his bed was ready, he collapsed back into it. Once, I made a dive in a two-man submarine, down in over 1,200 feet of water off Santa Barbara coast. Anderson would serve another 23 years before finally retiring once more. We hauled it all back in.". The ones that gave him nightmares, the stories from the day he nearly burned to death, he kept to himself. The Pearl Harbour . "Once after we crossed the equator, one of the planes came back," he says. Knives. Undertaker explains why many Pearl Harbor victims were left - mirror Haerry sailed on Navy ships through World War II and again during the Korean conflict. "Would you like to listen to it?" Peeling potatoes. The Navy captain who lived on Waikiki Beach gave a lot of parties and invited these guys. Conter got his wings in November 1942. Ken Potts eases around the side of the pool table, waving toward items like a museum tour guide in a back room. "In three days, we rescued 219 coast watchers without losing anybody," Conter said. did sharks eat pearl harbor victims - playtcubed.com The Children of Pearl Harbor | History| Smithsonian Magazine Joe proposed and Libby accepted. Their skin charred and falling off, the men crawled down the line to the Vestal. When Anderson said he was, his old friend was incredulous. "He saved six people's lives. Hetrick, who is 91, has outlived most of the men he knew on the Saratoga. Conter told the admiral he was interested in flight school, but doubted he would earn admission. By winter, temperatures plunged below zero. "I ain't seen 'em since.". The war's over.". "I said, 'Well, come on, then,'" Marietta says, and in 1950, they wed. That's where the cross-country adventures begin. "I didn't have the slightest idea what would happen when I signed up," he said. Inside deadliest shark attack EVER as 150 sailors from USS Indianapolis On Veteran's Day, he participated once more in a parade through Marysville, the next town over from Yuba City. One of the survivors would receive the Rhode Island Cross. They danced. "This went on for four straight hours. Hawaii Sharks | Incidents List 2 gun turret. They said, 'You should have been dead a long time ago.'". It turned out most of the regular stuntmen were still in the military. Not long after, a second plane dropped a life raft and all 10 of the crew made to shore and, the next night, back to the base. Anderson smiled. No sharks did not eat Titanic passengers. Cook worked in California, mostly welding jobs, until the union he belonged to called a strike. Over the next year, Anderson would sail across the South Pacific, joining other ships in the American assault on the Marshall Islands, Parry Island and the Palau Islands. "We picked up a couple of girls and made the rounds. He finally received his orders to return to the states. You can't leave the Navy.". With eyes too close or two far apart, a crewman could deliver faulty readings. He and a buddy would sneak off campus and hop freight trains to see how far they could get. He describes the store of booze they pulled out of safe and the money. Using its sonar equipment, the ship fired depth charges and eventually sank the enemy submarine. It was the first time Randy, his son, had seen his father cry. All but one of the Pacific fleet's battleships were in port that morning, most of them moored to quays flanking Ford Island. Rays. Back on land, Cook followed welding jobs from Kentucky and Pennsylvania to New Jersey and Long Island, west to North Dakota and Wisconsin and finally to a ranch house in Salinas, Calif., where he raised a family and stayed put for almost 30 years. The sea turned rough, tossing the ship with 40-foot swells, bouncing the vessel like a rubber ball in a washing machine. And it holds deep meaning for Potts, even though he did nothing to win it. Around 2005, he and Jeanne moved to Bullhead City. Just stay together, hold hands and kick slowly 'cause there'll be sharks around. More than 20 years earlier, he had earned his real estate license in California and had maintained it. did sharks eat pearl harbor victims 10 Things They're Still Not Telling You About Pearl Harbor He got the west coast and I got the east coast. He stood strong and tall right in front of this general. He displayed no pictures, kept no mementos that his family knew about. Nobody was expecting anything like that.". The treaty also gave the US Navy exclusive access to use Pearl Harbor as a coaling and repair station. 4 Comments. Anything you choose is fine. The lead-up to the Pearl Harbor attack. The ones after that were, too. He wants to secure a proper medal for Joe George, the sailor from the Vestal who helped rescue the six men from the gunner's control tower. "It's one of the best actual memorials I've seen," he says. He knew he was near release the day an officer came by and launched into a pep talk about the war and the Navy's role in it. Here's what he revealed: The USS Arizona (BB-39) burns after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Squid. Yes, he'll say, he was on the Arizona and he survived. Three days had passed since Japanese bombers had punched a fiery hole in the Navy's Pacific fleet. The best time for a bombing raid was after 1 a.m., when the ship was quiet. These Photos Of The Pearl Harbor Attack Are Still Shocking Decades Later "A day that will live in infamy." By . A few years later, a new station owner showed Anderson his plans to start a TV station. He decided to head back to the water. He was sent to the Los Alamitos Naval Air Station up the coast in Orange County. Helpless, I watched your bomb sink the Arizona in nine minutes.". He keeps the mementos from his experience the maps, the photos, the clippings, the medals, the painting in a room behind a door on the side wall of the living room in the house where he has lived for 54 years. "They tried to jump off. "After 36 hours, I still hadn't put in a day. 5 Facts You Didn't Know About Pearl Harbor | HuffPost Latest News "It is only by the grace of God that I stand here today," he said. Someone from the bureau had been asking questions. It was carrying parts of the Little Boy atomic bomb as a top secret mission and the Navy learned about its sinking four days after ot was torpedoed. If the shark feels like a dead fish isn't worth its time, it will leave without wasting more energy. One day, some smaller boats sailed past. He points out the cranes and the locations along the ship where he would tie up the motor boats he piloted to fetch supplies and ferry sailors to and from shore. World War II veterans are a special breed, Lt. Col. Denis Riel said as the men accepted the medals. "It was like a hard jolt.". Bruner was one of them. The Japanese-American mother, father and their three children. Almost imperceptibly, he sways. Before sharks became movie villains, they were celebrated in myths List of Shark Species and Facts - ThoughtCo The day after, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared it "a date which will live in infamy," and Congress . She was attending an art academy to learn dress designing. amc gremlin for sale washington state did sharks attack titanic survivors. When they said, 'grab your sea bags and let's go,' I did.". war. He tried to keep his thoughts on the work in the office. "It's always a great thing for me to see them," he says. Anderson had finished his first day as a Hollywood stunt man. Kuwait. He was able to visit the national cemetery at an area called the Punch Bowl. There were: Cook and another crewman. He has met many of his old friends and shipmates. His dad has never sought recognition for his service on the Arizona and barely talks about the day of the attack. It was constructed to comply with the 1922 Washington Naval . did sharks eat pearl harbor victims - daytuigiay.vn Of the 1,196 men aboard, 900 made it into the water alive. He returned to Oklahoma again and started his own business, outfitting a one-ton Ford pickup with a winch and other equipment that let him work the oil fields. Once a month or so, Clarendon Hetrick's phone rings with a call from Utah. You need the exercise. "It was a big ship with a lot of metal, I'll tell you." In May 1942, the Aylwin joined a task force in the Coral Sea with the USS Lexington, one of the Navy's early aircraft carriers. Bruner was at his battle station in an anti-aircraft gun director, a metal box on the forward mast of the Arizona, when an armor-piercing bomb ignited the ship's powder magazine. Conter's crews flew missions across the South Pacific: New Guinea, Borneo, New Britain, the coast off Perth, Australia. One morning, he was at his desk, catching up on paperwork, when he heard a vehicle screech to a halt outside. Too many strategic decisions come down from Washington instead of from the commanders on the ground. He doesn't need to say which Saturday night by now. did sharks eat pearl harbor victims. It scared him a little. Potts had not returned to Honolulu in the decades since he left for San Francisco in 1945. Answer: Yes- in 1945, after the USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese torpedo. The woman helped connect Bruner with other survivors from the Arizona and Pearl Harbor. "It never gets easy to go back," he says. They eventually bought a home-furnishings outlet farther inland and finally built their own store in Yuba City, north of Sacramento. If a shark comes too close, hit it in the nose with your fist as hard as you can.". "I said, 'sure, I'll take it.' No one seemed to be in charge on Ford Island, where Cook had spent the night. The strike climaxed a decade of worsening relations between the United States and Japan. This time the objective was clear. He's never been back. "I was here all the time. 2,614 Pearl Harbor Attack Premium High Res Photos He didn't know what to tell them. Whether they're a spiny dogfish all the way to great whites, sharks love eating fish. Most sharks are carnivores, meaning their diets consist of live prey, including fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. During construction of the memorial, the Navy sliced off pieces of the Arizona's wreckage to make room for the structure that sits above the sunken ship today. Hetrick took a motor launch to the receiving station on shore, where he and other survivors were allowed to shower and given a change of clothes. In Korea, Conter flew 29 missions, but his work in Naval intelligence left him vulnerable if the North Koreans captured him, so he was shipped to Washington, D.C. On the 70thanniversary of the attack, the men had been brought to the state capitol to receive new honors. In 1967, Conter retired from the Navy. But he clutches the cap and puts it on as he sits in an easy chair by the window. He and his wife, Doris, have lived in the same house for 54 years. "Listen, all those men down there on that ship, a thousand of them, they wouldn't do it and I don't think they'd want me to do it," he says. There's a little air bubble. Long a bachelor again, Bruner has also entertained lady friends from time to time. He was nervous about volunteering for anything, but he raised his hand. Bruner thought it an odd request. "I'm going to be back out there one of these days," Conter said, his voice wistful as he watches a foursome trying to stay on the greens. Posted by ; royal canin yorkie dog food reviews; parkland psychiatric hospital dallas, tx . When, on July 30, 1945, USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine, the Navy didn't realize the ship had been lost until four days later - after which hundreds of men floating in the ocean for days had been eaten by sharks.. Toward the end of July 1945, the Portland-class heavy cruiser USS . "We didn't hear much from the outside at first," Hetrick said. Why not try radio? This day, which marks the attack on Pearl Harbor, has come to be known as the "Day of Infamy" (derived from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech the day after the attack). Dec 12 2014. UPDATE:Joe Langdell diedin February 2015, months after this report. Abe offered condolences and said he prayed that all their souls were at peace. Marietta shakes her head. In the chaotic days following the Dec. 7 ambush, the Navy wasn't letting ships into the harbor, fearful the Japanese might send in more bombers. Military Casualties. And that's what he told every soldier and airman who took his courses.*. He clears his throat. "In the service, if you didn't use nasty words, you weren't a good sailor.". The bomb that shattered the Arizona's bow exploded as Cook and the others climbed out of the turret. Hetrick was sent to the USS Lexington, an aircraft carrier. The owner said, 'give it a name and say who are. He cleaned and painted day after day, but he also operated the motor boats used to ferry crew members to shore, a job that let him leave the ship periodically. Explosions rocked the vessel and fires burned into the evening. "I never talked about it much then," he says. "He should have the Navy Cross," Stratton says. "I ran the decompression chamber on jobs. Williams was in the Arizona's band. A while later, he and Marietta were on the road again, to a missile base in Sturgess, S.D., to gas lines in Wisconsin and North Dakota. He once helped design programs that sent soldiers into the wilds for days or weeks at a time. He had stopped at Pearl Harbor more than a decade earlier, on his way to a posting in Korea. They stayed composed as their stories were told, stories of bravery, of quick thinking. We left and never fired a shot at them.". The Saratoga had returned to Pearl Harbor by the time the Japanese surrendered. They wouldn't send her over so I didn't re-enlist.". "It's hard to explain." We carefully wrapped them in sheets. "We would go in with a landing party or we furnished artillery for the landing force. He helped rescue some of his shipmates. "Some of the ships I was on had guys who liked to play the guitar, so I knew something about it. In World War II, he fought at Guadalcanal, in the battle of the Coral Sea, at Okinawa and Iwo Jima. "What's up with this one? Admiral Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy came to the conclusion that for the Japanese to be victorious in the pacific, they had to destroy the . It wasn't, but the flash was a reminder, as if he needed anything more. Sea turtles. The planes could fly at low altitudes, then buzz upward for a bombing run, confounding enemy gunners trying to calculate speed and distance. Sentiment ran high against the Japanese, he said, but also against U.S. leaders whose decisions many questioned in the aftermath. High winds could slam one ship into the other and sink one or both of the vessels. He has been telling his story to an author, Ed McGrath, who is working on a book and a film about Bruner's escape from a collapsing tower on the ship. For a lot of people, meeting Elvis and playing one of his first records on the air might sound like one of life's truly unforgettable days. Seventy-three years later, he is one of just nine survivors of the attack on the Arizona. The song, "Hound Dog" and the singer, Elvis Presley, both went over pretty well, the way Cactus Jack remembers it. did sharks attack titanic survivors. After the war, Langdell returned to the family auction business in Massachusetts, but after all those years in Hawaii, the Philippines and in the tropical South Seas, he couldn't readjust to the cold.