Are There Any Other USS Arizona Survivors Still Living?

While I was reading the article In used for the last several posts about USS Arizona survivor Lou Conter, I got to wonderingif there were any other survivors of the ship still living.  Unfortunately, the article didn't mention any.

I looked it up and there is one other survivor still living, Ken Potts, 101.  He is a member of American Legion Post 13 in Provo, Utah.

Two other USS Arizona survivors died in 2019 and 2020.   They were Lauren Bruner who died September 10, 2019 and Don Stratton who died February 16, 2020.

--GreGen

Funeral Procession for Donald Stratton Yesterday

From the Feb. 9, 2020,  9 News.

The body of WW II USS Arizona survivor Donald Stratton was transported in a funeral procession from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Red Cloud, Nebraska, on February 29, 2020.  He was 97 and passed away in his sleep on February 15 according to his family.

The procession departed from Rocky Mountain Calvary Church at about 11:30 am and was expected to arrive at the funeral home about 8:20 pm.

Mr. Stratton was one of the last three known USS Arizona survivors, along with Ken Potts and Lou Conter.  The fourth one, Lauren Bruner, died last year.

--GreGen

Death of USS Arizona Survivor Donald Stratton-- Part 5: Brought Honor to the Man Who Saved Him, Joseph Leon George

In 2002, Mr. Stratton began fighting the Pentagon bureaucracy and Congress to bring an honor to that sailor on The USS Vestal who saved his and the other lives on December 7, 1941, when he tossed them the line.

That man was Joseph Leon George.

Boatswain's mate 2nd Class Joseph Leon George was that alert sailor and Stratton discovered that George had never been decorated for that action.  A retired chief petty officer, George died in 1996.

In 2017, Mr. Stratton and one of those men Mr. George saved, retired Navy Fire Control Chief Lauren Bruner, traveled to Washington, D.C., to personally petition Congress and President Trump to award Mr. George a posthumous medal.

And, they won their final battle of World War II.

On December 7, 2017, George's family received on his behalf, the Bronze Star with a "V" device for battlefield valor.

Mr. Bruner died September 10, 2019, at age 98. and this past December 7, 2019, he became the last USS Arizona survivor to be interred inside his former ship.

Donald Stratton is the co-author of "All the Gallant Men:  An American Sailor's Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor."

He is survived by his wife Velma, children Robert, Randy, Gypsy, Roxanne Jp; plus thirteen grand children and great grandchildren.

--GreGen

USS Arizona Survivor Lou Conter Arrives in Hawaii for Commemoration

From the December 4, 2019, Military.com site "Pearl Harbor survivors gets hero's welcome as he arrives to mark attack's anniversary" by William Cole.  Honolulu Star Advertiser.

USS Arizona survivor Lou Conter flew in on Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A321 from Sacramento, California, along with fifty family members.  The plane was welcomed at Hawaii's Daniel K. Inouye International Airport through a watery arch formed by two fire trucks.

Mr. Conter was on the Arizona's stern that day in 1941 when a Japanese  aerial bomb pierced the bow of the battleship, igniting a million pounds of gunpowder.  He helped badly injured men get off the ship after that.

A total of 1,177 men were killed on the Arizona that day.  Today, Mr. Conter is one of only three survivors of the ship still alive.  He is in Hawaii partly for the internment aboard the Arizona of shipmate Lauren Bruner who died September 10 at age 98.

"We have to bury Lauren Bruner on Saturday, so [I] had to come back," Conter said sitting in his wheelchair.  "I'll come out every year I can until I'm gone.  I'm only 98," he added with a laugh.

--GreGen

One of the WW II Survivors Is Expected to Be USS Arizona Survivor Lou Conter, 98

Lou Conter, age 98, is expected to be in attendance.  He is one of just three of that ship's survivors still alive.

This past year, Lauren Bruner, another Arizona survivor, died and his ashes will be interred on the wreck of the USS Arizona in a sunset ceremony.

***********************************

The morning ceremony will include a pass and review of the destroyer USS William P. Lawrence, a flyover by  the Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 fighters and remarks from the Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt and U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, retired Admiral Harry B. Harris.

Following the ceremony and associated events, public programs at the USS Arizona Memorial will begin.  Thankfully, the memorial itself has reopened.

--GreGen

USS Arizona Survivor Lauren Bruner Dies-- Part 2

From the September 12, 2019, Rogersville (Az) Review  "Pearl Harbor survivor Lauren Bruner, honored before the 2016 Arizona-Hawaii football game, dies at 98"   Arizona Daily Star.

There are now just three USS Arizona survivors alive:  Don Stratton, Lou Conter and Ken Potts.

When the attack came that December 7, he was at his duty station about 70 feet above the deck of the Arizona when the explosion that killed 1,177 of his crew mates.  He wad hoping to go to college and be a cheerleader  "we called  it a 'yell leader' then," he said.  he was one of the final two men rescued from the ship.

His hands and  arms were charred and he was shot twice in the leg.  Afterwards, he spent  seven months in hospitals with about 70% of his body burned.

He survived that ordeal and accepted assignment to another battleship and fought in eight major battles in the Pacific Theater.

--GreGen

Bits of War: A Pearl Harbor 101st and Bell Ringing

Bits of War.

1.  A PEARL HARBOR 101ST BIRTHDAY--  Bernie Rubien celebrated his 101st birthday in Rancho Mirage, California.  he was in the Army Air Corps and U.S. Air Force for 25 years.  He celebrated with his best friend, 98-year-old Clarence Lux, a World War II U.S. Navy veteran.

Both men were stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, but did not know each other then.  They met many years later when they belonged to the Coachella Valley Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.  They are the last two members living of the group that at one time had 24 members.

2.  A BELL RINGING--  The bell in the University of Arizona Student Union Memorial Center Tower rang 21 times on Friday, September 13 for Lauren Bruner who died on September 11, 2019.

Ruth Campbell, wife of USS Arizona survivor Joe Campbell and leader of the USS Arizona Survivors Group visited the campus for the bell ringing and paid her respects at the USS Arizona Mall memorial.

--GreGen

USS Arizona Pearl Harbor Survivor Lauren Bruner to Return for 75th Anniversary-- Part 2

There will be a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the exact moment the attack began.

Mr. Bruner did not know who was attacking them until he saw the red "Rising Sun" insignias on the planes.  They shot "everything in sight."  Then, an explosion tore through his battle station.  "That's where the flames blew right through and cooked me right there.  Everything burning."

He looked to jump overboard, but the water of the harbor was on fire.

He and several others spied a sailor on the ship moored next to the Arizona and got him to toss a rope over to them.  Then, the six of them crawled hand-over-hand across 100 feet to the USS Vestal.

They made it and another 335 sailors and Marines also somehow managed to survive the hell that had become their ship.  Sadly, another 1,177 weren't so fortunate.

--GreGen

USS Arizona Survivor Returns for the 75th Anniversary-- Part 1

From the December 5, 2016, ABC News/Yahoo! News   "USS Arizona Survivor Heads to Pearl Harbor 75 Years Later."

Lauren Bruner was getting ready for church on the USS Arizona that fateful day 75 years ago when the alarm sounded.  He was 21 and a bullet hit his left leg and then an explosion rocked his ship, sinking it nine minutes later.  There was a miraculous escape, but he was seriously burned.

Now, at age 96, Mr. Bruner lives in La Mirada, California, and has returned to visit Pearl Harbor many times over the years.

The U.S. Navy and National Park service expect several dozen Pearl Harbor survivors to attend this year's commemoration.

--GreGen