From the March 10, 2011, New Bedford (Mass) Standard-Times South Coast Today.
Senior Chief Boatswain's Mate (ret) Herve Fortin, the last of six Middleboro Pearl Harbor survivors died feb. 17th.
he was a Seaman First Class on the USS Detrot (CL8) anchored by Ford Island and went topside at 7:30 AM to relieve a fellow crewman on a motor boat which was still out on a mission at the time.. He turned around to report to a petty officer in charge of the gun tub area of the ship just when two low-flying Japanese planes came in and dropped their bombs. Both these two and the next two missed the Detroit, but hit the USS Raleigh and USS Utah.
Fortin then went to battle station in sky control, but when that was curtailed, he spent the rest of the attack assigned to three-inch anti-aircraft gun #5.
The Greatest Generation.
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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