USS Arizona Survivor Pays Tribute To Fallen Shipmates Day
(December 10, 2009) | 
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| PEARL HARBOR (December 9, 2009 - NNS) -- Every year around
Dec. 7, a Pearl Harbor survivor travels from his home in
California and heads to Hawaii with his family for the
annual Pearl Harbor Day memorial ceremony.
Since 1991, Louis Conter, 88, has made these annual sojourns
because of a sense of duty he feels to represent his ship,
USS Arizona (BB-39), which lost 1,177 Sailors during the
attack, the most casualties from any ship that day.
This year, he was the only remaining USS Arizona survivor to
attend the 68th anniversary commemoration of the attack on
Pearl Harbor, where he also presented a wreath in honor of
his fellow shipmates.
"There are not too many of us left," Conter said. "I am one
of only 18 remaining survivors who were aboard the USS
Arizona on that day. And even then, only five of us are
capable of traveling to Hawaii. The rest are either
bedridden or in the hospital," he added.
Conter was a 20-year-old quarter master third class on watch
the morning of the attacks. He said he remembered standing
at his quarterdeck station, between the ship's third turret
and main deck, when sirens began to sound at 7:55 a.m. as
Japanese planes started bombing the harbor.
According to Conter, his most vivid memory came at 8:05 a.m.
when a bomb hit an ammunition magazine located between
turrets one and two, causing a massive explosion famously
captured on media news reels. Conter said the blast knocked
him to the deck while other Sailors were thrown off the side
of the ship.
"Everything forward of the ship blew up with the magazine,"
he recalled. "Guys started coming out of the fire and we
would lay them down on the deck because we didn't want them
jumping over the sides. There was fire all around the ship
and we knew if they jumped over, they would be killed
anyway."
The detonation of the ship's forward magazines collapsed
most of her foremast and forward superstructure, causing the
ship to sink.
"On the quarterdeck, we were knee-deep in water," he
remembered. "Men from other ships threw lines over to our
ship so they could come aboard and help with the fire. About
five of them came across before the lines burned up and the
rest fell into the burning water. We were able to get some
of them out, but they were badly burned."
After the first wave of Japanese planes, Conter said the
ship's captain told him and remaining Sailors to abandon
ship.
"When captain said 'abandon ship,' we went into life boats
and started picking men out of the water and fire," he
recalled. "When the second attack hit, we fought from
water."
After both waves of attacks, Conter said he and surviving
Sailors spent more than 10 days helping put out fires and
retrieving bodies on their ship.
"We worked non-stop for days after the attack," he said. "It
was hot as hell and we would work all day and all night
long, but we were young and had a job to do."
During that time, Conter also worked with a dive team that
had the grim task of retrieving bodies still trapped inside
the ship.
"I remember we were given pumps that we would pump to get
air to the divers," he said. "They were trying to get bodies
out of the staterooms, but getting into the hatches made it
very difficult. After retrieving a few bodies, they decided
it wasn't going to work and they closed the ship down."
The remains of more than 900 Sailors are still buried inside
the ship to this day. Out of a crew of 34 quartermasters who
were on board the ship on Dec. 7, 1941, Conter was the only
one to survive the attack.
After Pearl Harbor, he eventually earned his aviation wings
as a Navy pilot, serving in one of the first PBY Black Cat
Squadrons. These squadrons were known to paint their
Catalina flying boats jet black and attack Japanese ships at
night during World War II. Although he was shot down twice
in 1943, Conter went on to enjoy a long and satisfying
23-year naval career, retiring in 1967 as a lieutenant
commander.
During his recent trip to the USS Arizona Memorial, Conter
said he always makes a point to walk into the shrine room,
where the names of those killed on the USS Arizona are
engraved on a large, marble wall.
"When I read that wall, I say a prayer for each of those
guys up there," he said as he pointed out names of fellow
shipmates he still remembers. "It is always heartbreaking,
but there was a job that was done 68 years ago. We can't
forget that." | |
By Navy Blair Martin
Commander,
Navy Region Hawaii Public Affairs
Copyright 2009
Reprinted from
Navy News Service
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