From the September 14, 2020, Union (California County, Nevada) by Elias Funez.
Grass Valley's WW II hero and USS Arizona survivor, retired Lt. Cmdr. Lou A. Conter, was celebrated Saturday with a drive-by salute for his 99th birthday.
He knew nothing of it, but representatives of nearly every local law enforcement, firefighter and community, including state parks and Forest service took part.
Colter said that he would be missing this year's commemoration at Pearl harbor on December 7, but has plans to go in 2021.
Said Mr. Conter: "Ken Potts is the only other survivor from the USS Arizona. I talked to him a couple of weeks ago. He's in Utah, he and his wife bought that house in '47 when they got out of the service. And, they're still living there. He was 99 on April 15, he's five months older than I am. There's just the two of us left."
He was on board the Arizona that day when it blew up and helped rescue crewmen afterwards and dove into the wreckage to recover bodies in the days afterwards.
Later in the war, he became a VP-11 Black Cat pilot and was responsible for helping rescue over 200 Australian Coastwatchers stranded in Northern New Guinea.
Happy Birthday Mr. Conter!! --GreGen
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