The Macdonough pulled picket patrol often, protecting other troops and guarding against kamikaze attacks by Japanese planes. . Potts was based out of the port director's office there were two, one at the harbor, one on the ninth floor of the Aloha Tower in downtown Honolulu but he logged most of his hours at the controls of the motor boat, a Jeep or a station wagon. "I'm going to be back out there one of these days," Conter said, his voice wistful as he watches a foursome trying to stay on the greens. And in the back corner, a real trophy. '", "Some things," he says, "you don't know about what they'll mean until years later.". The ships encountered a Japanese fleet, two big cruisers, six destroyers, some troop ships, and engaged. Cook stood on a shelf in the gun mount with his big binoculars and watched the Marines raise the flag to mark the U.S. victory. He had a ticket home to Minnesota, but decided to find a place to stay and come up with a plan. Anderson picked up and moved to New Mexico. And it holds deep meaning for Potts, even though he did nothing to win it. He settled in Palm Springs and built a career as a real estate developer, buying up land for commercial and residential projects. "Mr. Langdell," he said, "when you're done with your breakfast, you'll report to the pier and you'll be met by a motor whale boat and a party of 20 enlisted men with sheets and pillow cases. His kids and grandkids. LaRocque asked. He and his father chat a little. He wrote a training manual whose precepts the Navy still follows. "I've gotten letters from some of the officer candidates who had my father as an instructor," Ray Jr. says. Hetrick was sent to the USS Lexington, an aircraft carrier. It was one of the biggest rescues in World War II, but no one knew about it because everything was top secret in those days.". The smile widens. "They paid everybody in two dollar bills back then. In early January, Conter visited his young lady friend again and again, Admiral Calhoun was there. Tall pines tower over the house. UPDATE:John Anderson diedin November 2015, less than a year after this report. I wanted to know if you could do it for a couple of weeks.". "I'd already sent word, even before the first one got there," he says. Servicemembers stationed in Hawaii took care of the memorial during the 2013 government shutdown: Servicemembers stationed in Hawaii treat Pearl Harbor as a living . They respected a guy who survived such a horrific attack. A few years after that, they left for Las Vegas, where their son, Bob, and his family help them get around. 2023 www.azcentral.com. He can't relive those images anymore. "We don't think you'd make it. Williams was on deck, tuning up to play for colors, an early call after the previous day's fleet Battle of the Bands on shore. The war's over.". His dad will return finally at his death. In the chaotic days following the Dec. 7 ambush, the Navy wasn't letting ships into the harbor, fearful the Japanese might send in more bombers. world war ii. Stratton logged thousands of miles of travel. Conter got his wings in November 1942. A bow. Golfers play through 50 yards from Conter's driveway. Bruner thought it an odd request. Kitchen patrol. Anderson's road to the radio booth started in Hollywood, with a screen test at a studio where he had worked. He and Libby moved west to Walnut Creek east of San Francisco. We can't let it happen again.". He would sail to San Francisco on one of the cruise ships refitted to move troops, the Lurline, or maybe the Matsonia. Sharks in turn were revered because they . The crew was evacuated and another U.S. destroyer scuttled the Lexington to keep the Japanese from capturing her. Crustaceans. Hetrick turns a rusted chunk of metal over in his hands, running his fingers along the curves and edges. He saw action across the South Pacific, patrolled areas where suicide bombers were attacking American destroyers. he said. @webtv.net wrote in message. On the morning of May 8, the fighting intensified as American aircraft tried to turn back the enemy planes. With his experience running cranes on the Arizona, Potts figures he could have landed a decent job at the Geneva Steel operation, but he didn't want to work shifts, so he worked as a carpenter again and eventually went into the used car business with a friend. He brought all of his family: his wife Jeanne, his three sons and their families. Or both. A woman from Illinois drew Bruner's name. He asked if Jeanne could come with him. But he became restless. What Do Sharks Eat [2022] Great Whites & Many More Species Never would've found it.". This day, which marks the attack on Pearl Harbor, has come to be known as the "Day of Infamy" (derived from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech the day after the attack). That was the end of it.". evolution golf cart forum Until his partner ran off with all the money. Afterward, Langdell sought out other survivors who had formed reunion organizations. We hauled it all back in.". It never returned, crippled in the Battle of the Coral Sea and scuttled by the Navy to keep the enemy from salvaging her. 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. The Hirasaki family suffered some of the worst losses that terrible morning. USS Indianapolis at Mare Island. USS Indianapolis was a Portland class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy. 39 Interesting Pearl Harbor Facts | Pearl Harbor Warbirds Hetrick was still just 21 by then, but a seasoned sailor who shared little in common with the 17-year-old kid who left high school and joined the Navy on his parents' signature. Stratton could not. They had voted. did sharks attack titanic survivors - epcorcentre.org At dawn on December 7, 1941, more than half of the United States Pacific Fleet, approximately 150 vessels and service craft, lay at anchor or alongside piers in Pearl Harbor. Of the 1,196 men aboard, 900 made it into the water alive. The burn ward filled with the injured. The ones that gave him nightmares, the stories from the day he nearly burned to death, he kept to himself. "I said, 'sure, I'll take it.' "We said we'd volunteer if they'd put two or three of us together on the same ship," he said. "Are you in the Navy? "I was back here on leave before the war started and he was here too," Cook says. During the conference, the Pringle sailed into the Mediterranean Sea and anchored in a river. In the years after, he became active in survivors' groups and started going back to Pearl Harbor more often. Her sister knew Jack Warner, the film studio mogul, and invited Valerie to a movie premiere party Warner was hosting in Palm Springs for his latest project, "Camelot". 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. "They said what a wonderful place it was to live, with jobs and everything, so I bought a little place up in Spanish Fork," he says, "I'm still looking for that easy money.". The Navy loaded 5,000 bunks on board, along with a row of portable latrines, and the Saratoga sailed to San Francisco, passing under the Golden Gate Bridge with toilet paper streamers and thousands of sailors who needed something to do. "I thought you'd be in flight school," he said. "He should have the Navy Cross," Stratton says. dwayne johnson rock foundation contact. That led to a job in Roswell, the Sagebrush Serenade and Elvis Presley. Only 335 men survived the bombing of the USS Arizona, the mighty battleship whose loss at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, inspired a nation to go to war. Yes, some of them were his friends. A carnivorous shark diet usually includes fish, mollusks, and crustaceans. ages 2, 3 and 8, together with a 14-year-old cousin . Potts returned to Illinois in late 1945 to await his formal discharge, hanging out in Chicago. He had escaped the USS Arizona, the battleship whose losses surpassed any other. Not long after, a second plane dropped a life raft and all 10 of the crew made to shore and, the next night, back to the base. He didn't have to pay for dinner. We carefully wrapped them in sheets. Kuwait. Why is the FBI checking up on you, she wanted to know. Almost imperceptibly, he sways. "He called me one night and said if you won't let me come to California, I found a lady who's got a new black Buick and I'm going to move to Texas.". The inscription reads "Spirit of Aloha Award, Timpview High School Marching Band.". Late in the year, after an overhaul in San Francisco, the Coghlan returned to patrol duty off the Aleutians with a half dozen other U.S. vessels. "Here's the one that told my mother I was missing in action on the Arizona," he says. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. I still had to wait 29 years for that guy to come back and take his brush back.". "If you can stand up and stay up while we change the linen on this bed, we'll see about it.". It was as if he had none. As they walked toward it, Langdell reeled at an odor. The ship was dead in the water. "I knew everything that was going on.". Lonnie Cook was born in this rural town south of Tulsa, not long after it was founded as a stop on the Ozark and Cherokee Central Railway. "Cover the decks, anywhere you can find them up to the top of the masts.". We can't see our own ships. 11 Oldest Pearl Harbor Survivors (Updated 2021) December 7, 1941 is a date that everyone in America has committed to memory. He liked teaching and liked the chance to instill discipline. It turned out little was the right word. Haerry would come home on those days with cigar boxes full of the coins. Potts says, shaking his head. In order to produce enough energy to hunt and keep their body temperatures up, they have to feed on high-fat animals like seals and large tuna.The sharks have good eyesight, and they have electromagnetic sensors on their snout where they can tell the difference between a seal and a human from over 100 yards away. So reads the telegram sent to the Mattituck home of Anna and Clifford Penny on Dec. 10, 1941. The woman helped connect Bruner with other survivors from the Arizona and Pearl Harbor. He had stopped at Pearl Harbor more than a decade earlier, on his way to a posting in Korea. It sits a little higher than most items, but not necessarily on a platform. did sharks eat pearl harbor victims - soapidea.com A clerk tried to complete the process, normally a routine, if messy, step to secure the permit. Framed medals. Doctors treated him and he recovered, but the his fingers never healed properly. They moved to Modesto, Calif., where he got a job driving a produce truck in the fruit orchards. The planes took off and landed on the water; the pilots tied up to buoys near the ship. The countries of Japan and The United States had been at odds for several decades before the attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. "But I had a brother in Vietnam who didn't want to talk about it at all, so I guess I realized if they want to talk, they'll talk. Nope. They called the Marines out with rifles to protect the plane and the guys while we hauled it in.". In late 1943, Conter flew a mission to rescue more than 200 coast watchers in New Guinea. Maybe next time. "You," the fellow said. Everything was taken ashore and properly taken care of.". For years, Stratton wore the scars from the Arizona without talking about them much. "So they knew.". He started chatting up a regular customer, a contractor, and got a job building houses. We left and never fired a shot at them.". did sharks eat pearl harbor victimssig sauer minimalist folding stock. He will answer questions about that December day when he escaped the burning wreckage of the Arizona, reciting as many of the details as he can remember. "The kids coming up now have never heard of it," he says, his voice tinged with sadness and dismay. About a year after he boarded the ship, he ran into a young recruit named Clyde Williams, a fellow from Okmulgee, Okla., a few miles down the road from Morris. Smoke rises from the battleship USS Arizona as it sinks . Once, I made a dive in a two-man submarine, down in over 1,200 feet of water off Santa Barbara coast. It identifies Stratton as a survivor of the attack that sank the ship. He bought another gun in the states and he is never far from it. In the waters off Honolulu, he confronted his memories. Nobody was expecting anything like that.". I asked the boss, 'how many hours is in a day for you?' The smell of burned skin filled the air. DES MOINES, Iowa - A World War II veteran thought to be the oldest survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack died last month at 103. Anderson spoke to one of the tanker's crew about towing the Macdonough. "Are there any officers from the Arizona here?" He remembers when the order was given to abandon ship. That same year, he met his wife, Valerie, in Palm Springs. The venture was working out well. He still tools around town in the truck, but it's a classic now, so he drives it almost as often to car shows. did sharks eat pearl harbor victims. I wasn't working for nothing.". Sailors jumped into fires to escape sinking vessels. When they sent me my discharge, I just stayed here.". At Kulangsu, an international settlement on an island off the southern Chinese coast, Anderson's unit ran into the French Foreign Legion, who had been cornered by Japanese soldiers on a high ridge. "Not Navy ships, other ships. About a month later, Japanese suicide bombers sunk the Pringle near Okinawa. Pearl Harbor (2001) - IMDb So he did. He endured what he did, he says, because that was his job. The trophy sits on a small white base that raises it above other items on a shelf. He needed a truck to carry equipment back and forth, so he scouted out a car lot and bought a 1965 Chevrolet pickup. In 2011, he was one of six Rhode Islanders who had lived through the attack on Pearl Harbor, the only one from the Arizona. The best time for a bombing raid was after 1 a.m., when the ship was quiet. "When we got up into the Aleutians, we started banging on the Japanese that had already landed," Bruner said. Did sharks eat Titanic passengers - Google Groups "She went to California and I followed her," Lonnie says. However, larger shark species like to eat large marine mammals and large fish species, including dolphins, sea lions, tuna, mackerel, and seals. "The new ones, they didn't know beans.". The Navy occasionally cuts away small bits of the wreckage for memorials. Bruner lives alone, in a post-war neighborhood in the far northern edges of Orange County. A few years later, a new station owner showed Anderson his plans to start a TV station. In Alaska, he helped set up platforms that could keep up with tides that rose and fell as much as 32 feet. And that's what he told every soldier and airman who took his courses.*. "The sea was real rough when it came in and the sharks started gathering around. Haerry held the rope that connected the ships as another crewman swung an ax to cut it. As he prepared for his new posting on the Frazier, Langdell decided to make a move. Not long after he returned to Pearl Harbor near the end of the war, Anderson searched out some of the battle reports from Dec. 7, 1941. The United States was a neutral country at the time; the attack led to its formal entry into World War II the next day. "We saved people on commercial ships on the seas, we rescued missionaries in the interior of China, we shot up a bunch of pirates," Anderson said. "I came back to the pier one morning and my name was on the list to do KP work," he says. But he doesn't tell his story anymore, not on his own. Over the next year, Anderson would sail across the South Pacific, joining other ships in the American assault on the Marshall Islands, Parry Island and the Palau Islands. The ship accompanied General Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines and was anchored in the harbor off Nagasaki, Japan, when the second atomic bomb exploded. She tracked him to the Los Angeles area, then started a phone search. Conter was at the young lady's house one day when her father received an important visitor: Admiral William Calhoun, the commander of base force for the Pacific Fleet. "It gets your breath when you first see it," he says. As soon as he turned 18, he enlisted in the Navy. a director yelled. "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. Today, he tries to pass on what he knows to students of history. A total of 2,403 Americans died in the tragic attack 80 years ago and for many families there was never closure as bodies remained unidentified or left amongst the wreckage. elephant tail jewelry did sharks eat pearl harbor victims. That caught the lieutenant colonel's interest. He has been telling his story to an author, Ed McGrath, who is working on a book and a film about Bruner's escape from a collapsing tower on the ship. He moved to Provo and sold cars until 1990. World War II veterans are a special breed, Lt. Col. Denis Riel said as the men accepted the medals. "Sometimes, we'd come back, eat, then sleep on the beach.". He was assigned briefly to the Arizona, then to the Saratoga, an aircraft carrier, then, as the Navy tinkered once more with its troop alignment, back to the Arizona. He gave Anderson the name of a contact there. Anderson grew up in the Red River Valley of northern Minnesota, the son of a prominent local judge. The cities were in ruins. Bruner and the Coghlan returned to Honolulu and finished out the war in the South Pacific. "Something had happened that no one could comprehend.". They danced. Born in 1914, seven months after the first bolts were tightened on a new battleship in Brooklyn, Langdell grew up wooded agricultural area along the Souhegan River in southern New Hampshire. The bomb that shattered the Arizona's bow exploded as Cook and the others climbed out of the turret. "Would you like to listen to it?" "I put on two life jackets," Hetrick said. 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. Potts was returning to the Arizona with fresh produce when the first Japanese bombers dove into Pearl Harbor. He would become the final survivor to be interred in the ship. They were dead in the water.". And he was allowed to visit a part of the Arizona few people ever see. He handed the microphone to his son, Raymond Haerry, Jr., who spoke of his father's courage and resilience. He's not sure he'd have learned that lesson if he hadn't enlisted in the Navy. The Saratoga sailed across the South Pacific, to Guam, the Philippines, around New Guinea. Once a shark finds its prey, it needs to decide on whether to eat or not based on smell and appearance. "Say your prayers, men, we're seven miles off shore and we're in 10, 15-foot swells," one of the officers said as the crew abandoned the plane. "It's just not going to happen. Salvage work would begin soon on others. His dad has never sought recognition for his service on the Arizona and barely talks about the day of the attack. The ones after that were, too. 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. By 1991, the 50th . We had survival training on the job. It was constructed to comply with the 1922 Washington Naval . After the war, he worked as a stuntman for Orson Welles and John Wayne and helped build Alan Ladd's house in the hills outside Hollywood. Langdell's ship, the USS Arizona, lay dead in the water where she sank 14 minutes into the attack. One day, a Navy officer came on board and asked if anyone wanted to volunteer for an assignment in the aviation section. did sharks eat pearl harbor victims - playtcubed.com "After 36 hours, I still hadn't put in a day. They wouldn't send her over so I didn't re-enlist.". 2022-06-16 Uncategorized Uncategorized "We would go in with a landing party or we furnished artillery for the landing force. Still traveling at 17 knots, the Indianapolis began taking on massive amounts of water; the ship sank in just 12 minutes. He then spent 14 months recovering in Great . "Three months later, I was in Korea.". "We were told to watch out for them, these guys were assassins," Anderson said. Salmon. Conter and others in his group boarded a boat to go out to the platform and see his old ship. Hetrick earned a Purple Heart for wounds during one of the bombing raids. What they didn't count on was the side-street parking. The body parts we put in pillow cases. I even had a couple of dates with girls.". "There's the battleships there's the Nevada, the Arizona, the Tennessee, the West Virginia, Maryland, the Oklahoma. At his request, he was assigned to the officer candidate school in Newport, R.I. Most sharks are carnivores, meaning their diets consist of live prey, including fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. "That's what I want to remember. 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. Helpless, I watched your bomb sink the Arizona in nine minutes.". He finally received his orders to return to the states. We were going to have a date the next day. As he waited, he had a feeling he knew what would happen, but he didn't say anything. Enemy patrol planes spotted the ships and the raid was canceled. Haerry accepted the medal, but found he could not speak. Seven decades later, he is one of nine living survivors from the Arizona. Naming Pearl Harbor. Now, Bruner prepares for his next trip in the Captain's Quarters. Conter served on the San Pablo and Half Moon. They could ride to the mainland then and leave for Florida. The sea turned rough, tossing the ship with 40-foot swells, bouncing the vessel like a rubber ball in a washing machine. He points out the cranes and the locations along the ship where he would tie up the motor boats he piloted to fetch supplies and ferry sailors to and from shore. The ship was moored in the shallows of Pearl Harbor's . He will meet three other survivors in Hawaii for their last reunion. "I hadn't told him he was going to be individually honored that day," he says. "It's hard to explain." "I went and found the head guy and by the time I got through explaining things to him," Potts says, "my name was never on that list again.". Stratton falls easily into the memories of his years on diving boats. It was the first time Randy, his son, had seen his father cry. The ship was to turn around and steam toward Alaska. Peeling potatoes. Other crewmen would roll out the shell, use a mechanical device to ram it in, then load four bags of powder behind it. striking a number of people in the water. The song, "Hound Dog" and the singer, Elvis Presley, both went over pretty well, the way Cactus Jack remembers it. The ship remained anchored outside Pearl Harbor for most of a month as U.S. commanders planned their next move against the Japanese in the South Pacific. Doctors and nurses wove among gurneys, administering morphine shots and looking for the victims most in need. He first visited the Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor on the 50thanniversary of the attack and has returned since.