Memories of USS Arizona horror still endure http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/320375
Six of the 21 remaining survivors of the USS Arizona were in Tucson Sunday to mark the 68th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Sixty-eight years ago today, Clare Hetrick, Lauren Bruner, Donald Stratton, Milton Hurst, Lonnie Cook and Glenn Lane were aboard the USS Arizona when it was hit by several Japanese bombs and sunk during the attack.
On Sunday, they attended the 56th annual USS Arizona Memorial Service at the University of Arizona.
The former crew members were in Tucson last week for a yearly reunion organized by the USS Arizona Reunion Association. Reunions are held annually in Tucson, Hawaii and other locations.
Only 21 survivors are living today, according to the association.
All told, 1,177 sailors and Marines aboard the USS Arizona died in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on the U.S. military installation in Hawaii.
The battleship was struck by several Japanese bombs that morning, and one bomb slammed through the ship’s magazine and powder areas, causing the 32,000-ton battleship to explode.
Hurst, 89, of Jacksonville, Fla., remembers reciting William Shakespeare that morning.
Hurst recalled that to remain calm, he repeated the phrase “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”
“There was nothing you could do but watch,” said Hurst, who retired after a 30-year career in the Navy, where he reached the rank of lieutenant commander.
Stratton, 87, had just finished breakfast and was on his way to deliver oranges to a fellow shipmate in the sick bay when the attack began.
He watched from his battle station as the Japanese hit the USS Pennsylvania and as the USS Oklahoma capsized.
Stratton and Bruner, 89, managed to escape the flames on the ship after a sailor on another vessel threw Stratton, Bruner and two other men a rope.
“We proceeded to go hand-over-hand across the line,” said Stratton, who lives in Colorado Springs, Colo.
After the attack, Stratton spent more than a year in different hospitals recovering from burns over 65 percent of his body, he said.
“My arms were just like long stockings,” he said of the burns. “I just pulled my skin down and took it off. It was in the way.”
Bruner, of La Mirada, Calif., suffers flashbacks to this day.
“I lost a lot of good buddies that day,” he said.
He played baseball, bowled and was on the rowing team with some of his Navy shipmates.
Craps also was a popular activity enjoyed by the men aboard the USS Arizona.
The night before the attack, Cook won $60 in a craps game and planned to go ashore with a friend to spend some of his winnings.
Instead, Cook, of Morris, Okla., headed to his battle station when the bombing started and waited until it was safe to make his exit. But first, he helped burn victims off the ship.
Lane, 91, remembers a huge blast.
“I threw my arms over my face,” said Lane, of La Conner, Wash. “I thought I was dying. I was engulfed by flames.
Next thing I remember, I was in the water trying to get to the surface. I looked back, and didn’t see a living person. I saw body parts.”
Hetrick, 86, and the others share their stories and attend reunions and memorials as a reminder to always stay alert.
“It can happen again. You can’t let your guard down at any time,” Hetrick said.
He lives in Bullhead City.
Sunday’s memorial service was a tribute to all of the men who served on the USS Arizona.
The UA is home to one of the USS Arizona’s bells, and it rang eight times Sunday for the eight Arizona men, among the approximately 900, who remain entombed on the sunken battleship.
Boy Scouts Matthew Shultz and Keith Jones, both 12, of Troop 294 attended the event.
They handed out American flags.
“There were so many people that died to save our country, and so many sacrificed themselves so we could have a free country,” said Keith, a seventh-grader at Flowing Wells Junior High School.
Contact reporter Andrea Rivera at arivera@azstarnet.com or 807-8430.
