"This went on for four straight hours. During his voyage to Alaska, Cook remembers the flying fish, which stirred up the water like a torpedo wake. "There was a huge oil fire on the surface of the water fueled by the ships' tanks, so it created these giant fires all over the water," Nelson said. "Mr. Langdell, Mr. Langdell, you've got to come here quick," he said. Conter's plane hadn't been out long in September 1943 when enemy bullets pierced one of their rear hatches and hit a parachute flare. did sharks eat pearl harbor victims. He was treated there for four months. The family visited the Arizona memorial and toured other sites near the harbor. In 2006, one of his sons offered to take Potts to Hawaii for the 65thanniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. He introduced him to other officers. They were dead in the water.". did sharks eat pearl harbor victims. It had been shortly after midnight when their ship, the USS Indianapolis, was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine in the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles east of the . "They were very good days before the war. How could he say no? He was on his own once again, he and his young family. In 1949, the newly created U.S. Air Force was trying to fill it out its ranks with experienced support crews, almost begging for mechanics who knew the aircraft. He will meet three other survivors in Hawaii for their last reunion. He finished his stint in the Navy in Shanghai, working shore patrol the way he did back in Honolulu. After that, he steamed north to Kodiak, Alaska, where other Navy ships were trying to turn back Japanese inroads throughout the strategically important Aleutian Islands. Seven decades later, he is one of nine living survivors from the Arizona. "When I got back home, my doctors here wanted to know about my medical background," Bruner said. 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. "I had to start training the new recruits on every machine," Bruner said. They knew the oil tanker Tippecanoe was out there, but couldn't see her. "I hadn't told him he was going to be individually honored that day," he says. "He's there anytime I call him," Hetrick says. We can't see our own ships. Three years later, Ray Haerry Jr. holds the cross in his hand, fighting back tears. The ship accompanied General Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines and was anchored in the harbor off Nagasaki, Japan, when the second atomic bomb exploded. Pearl Harbor: Directed by Michael Bay. He was soon aboard the USS Frazier, which left the shipyard at San Francisco in July 1942. Here is a story he will tell, a memory he will keep. Libby got the message. Sharks in turn were revered because they . By Christmas, he was in a hospital at Mare Island near San Francisco. Langdell arrived at Pearl Harbor along a different path than many of the young sailors, who signed up for the service because they were unable to find work as civilians. Hotline & WhatsApp : +971556212280 | Landline : +97143873596 , +97167499398 james reynolds obituary. Hetrick recovered. He looked for what he called medium spacing. He kept the truck, held on to it through repairs, engine overhauls, new paint jobs. Cha c sn phm trong gi hng. One of the survivors would receive the Rhode Island Cross. The ships sent up their own planes and turned back the assault. Schenkelberg was no stranger to hardships . In the late 1930s, American foreign policy in the Pacific hinged on support for China, and . mailchimp archive contacts Controle dos clientes e convnios; fatal car accident loveland colorado Abertura e fechamento de caixa, Sangria e despesas; "Something had happened that no one could comprehend.". Stratton could not. Lonnie and Marietta Cook met in Morris after the war, but the road to their home here today winds thousands of miles across the country. For 30 years, Lauren Bruner punched a clock at a manufacturing plant south of Los Angeles, a World War II veteran in a landscape crawling with them. He settled in Palm Springs and built a career as a real estate developer, buying up land for commercial and residential projects. Amidst the rush to war following the attack, there was also the painstaking effort to recover those who had been sunk with ships like the USS Oklahoma and the USS Arizona. As far he was concerned he was saving lives.". Seventy-three years later, he is one of just nine survivors of the attack on the Arizona. "That's what I want to remember. After an initial run-in with the guard at the gate ("Three weeks ago, I was shooting at people and killing them and I didn't even know who they were," he growled at the guard. Conter's doctor has sidelined him for now for health reasons, but he is certain he will return soon. The buddy wasn't home, but his son-in-law answered. He returned after the war to his home along the railway in eastern Oklahoma. He hasn't hunted in a while, though he still reloads his own ammunition on a garage workbench. Bruner, who turned 94 in November, is now one of nine living USS Arizona crewmen who survived the ship's sinking. But one day and one place in Cook's 94 years seem to embody all the rest, the day in December 1941 when the young sailor from Oklahoma escaped the ship that sent America to war. He spent long months on a tender, a vessel that carries equipment, parts and other supplies for ships at sea. By 1941, he worked the cranes on the ship, a job that entailed retrieving the Arizona's small seaplanes after they landed on the water. "In the service, if you didn't use nasty words, you weren't a good sailor.". The telegram, which misspelled Conter's last name, promises further information and asks his family not to divulge Conter's posting. "One day our boat was stacked with two dollar bills," he said. Put in eight years at least and you'll have a pension, he promised. Around 2005, he and Jeanne moved to Bullhead City. Their habitats include saltwater and freshwater alike. They are reminders of a moment in time he can never escape, a moment he sees again and again. But he became restless. He asked his brother, Ted, to visit Libby and see if she could cook. It wasn't, but the flash was a reminder, as if he needed anything more. "We'd leave at 5:30 in the evening and stay out 12 or 14 hours, then return in the morning," Conter said. Langdell was an ensign, an entry-level officer, not yet a year in the Navy. The burn ward filled with the injured. "So they knew.". 3 gun turret. The men, their charred skin peeling away, climbed hand-over-hand across the line to safety. The Macdonough pulled picket patrol often, protecting other troops and guarding against kamikaze attacks by Japanese planes. He . Would Ken be willing to go as a guest of honor? His name never appeared and he would leave for the day. "I came back to the pier one morning and my name was on the list to do KP work," he says. They wouldn't send her over so I didn't re-enlist.". He had five brothers, including Jake, and four sisters, all grouped so close in age that paying for college wasn't practical for their folks. Cook got the buddy's telephone number and tried to call him. Sometimes we never landed, but we kept the line, always watching out for kamikazes.". The crew was evacuated and another U.S. destroyer scuttled the Lexington to keep the Japanese from capturing her. "They were saying, when it first started, some of the ones whose station was up here ", He traces his finger up onto the main forward mast, to the crow's nest and the bridge. "To go through that to me is incomprehensible. He remembers when the order was given to abandon ship. The only question was how Langdell would send Libby word about his arrival from Pearl Harbor. It took Ray Jr. years, decades to piece together his father's story. The Solace dispatched motor boats to the Arizona to rescue wounded sailors and her crew pulled others from the water. Most sharks are carnivores, meaning their diets consist of live prey, including fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. They moved to Modesto, Calif., where he got a job driving a produce truck in the fruit orchards. Still traveling at 17 knots, the Indianapolis began taking on massive amounts of water; the ship sank in just 12 minutes. That was the end of it.". That didn't last long and he headed back to Morris, where he met Marietta. In 2011, he was one of six Rhode Islanders who had lived through the attack on Pearl Harbor, the only one from the Arizona. He keeps up with what the military does, and some of it irritates him. "That's what I'm catching up now. As he was packing, a buddy warned him that his possessions would be searched at the port in San Francisco. "I don't think I'll ever forget what I saw that day.". I quit. His story is always in demand, though he'd just as soon not tell it in front of a lot of people. They bought a small ranch and, while Lonnie continued to work welding jobs, they grew walnuts, almonds, peaches, apples, nectarines, cherries and grapes. The family sold maple syrup distilled from the trees on their farm. Cook and the other men stayed below deck until the smoke from a fire forced them to leave. Never would've found it.". His dad operated a livery stable and a small dairy and later earned money as an auctioneer. "Not Navy ships, other ships. Stratton told her why: He had been aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941. Their skin charred and falling off, the men crawled down the line to the Vestal. Doctors and nurses wove among gurneys, administering morphine shots and looking for the victims most in need. He stayed there for months. Survivors' groups wanted to find all of them so their stories would not be lost. I even had a couple of dates with girls.". But he clutches the cap and puts it on as he sits in an easy chair by the window. Today, he tries to pass on what he knows to students of history. She likes the story of how they tied the knot. The paneled room behind the door in the living room of the Provo house is filled with trophies of almost any imaginable sort. "I left them there and hoped to get them back," he says. Anderson would serve another 23 years before finally retiring once more. Afew weeks after the war started, sometime in early 1942, Potts opened a letter from his mother. When he dies, his remains will be interred under the No. As he prepared to jump off the burning ship, he took the shoes off and set them on the quarterdeck. Hetrick was on board during battles at Midway and Wake Island and for the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima early in 1945. "I decided I'd do whatever they told me to. He will tell his story if he's asked and he will remember details along the way. But he doesn't tell his story anymore, not on his own. I wanted to know if you could do it for a couple of weeks.". UPDATE:John Anderson diedin November 2015, less than a year after this report. On the 70thanniversary of the attack, the men had been brought to the state capitol to receive new honors. Before the attack, many Americans were reluctant to become involved in the war in Europe. He keeps a folder of newspaper clippings, magazine stories and copies of a telegram. Potts was returning to the Arizona with fresh produce when the first Japanese bombers dove into Pearl Harbor. He was nervous about volunteering for anything, but he raised his hand. He stood strong and tall right in front of this general. On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Cook was changing clothes at his locker, savoring the thought of a day in Honolulu with the $60 he'd won in a craps game the night before. He agreed to play it on his show. He had taken a bullet to the back of his leg as he was climbing the tower, but the burns were far worse. He waited for the result. The story of the USS Indianapolis has become legendary with regards to shark attacks, and is known as the worst shark attack in recorded history. 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. Potts had not returned to Honolulu in the decades since he left for San Francisco in 1945. The new shoes he left on the deck of the sinking ship, the ones he intended to retrieve later. I had one pair of dungarees and that was it, that and a towel and shaving gear.". No sharks did not eat Titanic passengers. The sky began to darken and the wind grew. Cook worked in California, mostly welding jobs, until the union he belonged to called a strike. Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. 12/28/2016. The six-year Pentagon project identified nearly 400 who died on the USS Oklahoma in 1941. At the USS Arizona memorial, he became friends with a National Park Service historian and inspired a Pearl Harbor action figure that the service sold at the gift shop. Crustaceans. The ship provided fire support for the Marines going ashore. "We had to have two crews, a regular crew and a stand-by crew lined up waiting," Bruner said. For an hour or so, the two men talk. As he prepared for his new posting on the Frazier, Langdell decided to make a move. On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy bombed the Pearl Harbor Naval base in a surprise attack. The report said most of the guys in the anti-aircraft batteries, where Jake fought, were shot down early in the assault. UPDATE:Joe Langdell diedin February 2015, months after this report. Occasionally, they would close the store and hook a 33-foot trailer to a pick-up truck. Nobody was expecting anything like that.". The ship was still a day away from Honolulu when the captain received new orders. "Would you like a job?" Some of 'em made it, some of 'em landed on the deck. "We got into San Francisco," he says, "and they never even opened my bags. Cook was a gunner's mate on the Arizona. -Ryan Dutcher. "You," the fellow said. Sometimes he can't control his emotions, so he declines speaking requests. "The kids coming up now have never heard of it," he says, his voice tinged with sadness and dismay. Squid. Jack shrugged. "They said, 'If you re-enlist, we'll send her over.' Almost imperceptibly, he sways. By Michael E. Ruane. Too many strategic decisions come down from Washington instead of from the commanders on the ground. "When somebody says get out of here and you're on a hundred tons of ammunition, well, you don't question it," he says. "We made so many landings," Anderson said. His service on the Arizona also seemed to give him added credibility among the young sailors. He stepped off the deck into a motor launch as the ship was sinking. Cook is invited to such events occasionally and sometimes introduced as an Arizona survivor. "Well, I'd brushed enough paint on that damn ship, I figured I could do it," he says. He made bargemaster on a huge drilling rig, but yearned for something more interesting, so he got a job as a tender with a commercial deep sea diving business. Mess hall duty. The river wound through dense vegetation, leaving 15 or 20 feet of clearance on each side of the plane. Bruner toured Nagasaki in a Jeep with other Navy officers and chief mates. He squeezes past the pool table, past the photos and the maps and the medals. I heard the general say, 'You're a remarkable guy.' "It's hard to explain." They ran Joe and Libby Langdell's Village Mart for more than 20 years until they retired. He first visited the Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor on the 50thanniversary of the attack and has returned since. The men helped one another, holding up anyone who weakened. Abe offered condolences and said he prayed that all their souls were at peace. "One of the last ones" He talks about going aboard the Frazier. "The new ones, they didn't know beans.". A clerk tried to complete the process, normally a routine, if messy, step to secure the permit. Yes, he'll say, he was on the Arizona and he survived. We had survival training on the job. 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. Hetrick still likes to talk about the new shoes he bought the day before the attack in Honolulu. "It just didn't appeal to me to bring it up," he says. The day after the attack, President Franklin D . The Frazier patrolled the South Pacific at first, but in early 1943, steamed northward toward Alaska, where Japan was trying to secure positions in the Aleutian Islands. Finally, she located some of Bruner's tax records and found his address and telephone number. Five years later, in 2011, he got a call from the band director at Timpview High School in Provo.

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