Posted on 09/13/2019 1:44:04 PM PDT by lowbridge
Lauren Bruner, one of the last four survivors of the attack on the USS Arizona by Japanese planes on Dec. 7, 1941, died Tuesday in California. He was 98.
-snip
Bruner, who was a 21-year-old fire controlman third class in charge of the ship’s .50-caliber guns, was the second to last person to leave the burning ship after the onslaught by the Japanese.
In a 2014 interview with Arizona Public Radio, he recalled that on the morning of Dec. 7 he raced up from below the ship’s deck when the attack began. He said he saw a Japanese plane fly by so closely that he could see the pilot’s face with a “big old grin on his face, mouth wide open.”
-snip
The Arizona was hit with four bombs – one of them hitting past three levels of the ship and into a powder magazine.
Bruner and five others were stranded on the sinking ship and were able to escape by grappling for 70 feet on a rope to a nearby repair ship, the USS Vestal.
Despite having burns on over 70 percent of his body, Bruner recovered and was later assigned to the USS Coghlan, where he participated in eight major engagements in the Aleutian Islands and seven operations in the South Pacific.
He retired from the Navy in 1947.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Fair winds and following seas, Sir.
Go with God, sailor, well done.
One of the last of the great American heroes? Modern schools don’t even mention them. Sad.
RIP. WW2 is rapidly passing from living history.
And the Leftist version of events is replacing it.
RIP, Sir.
We here in Arizona remember the BB Arizona well, as it has never been decommissioned, and so there will never be another ship named the Arizona in the U.S. Navy. The anchor, a mast, and a 14 in. gun barrel are here in Wesley Bolin Plaza, Phoenix, near the capitol building. I believe 2 battleships were sunk on December 7th, 1941, the Arizona and the Nevada.
The Nevada and the other battleships were re floated, repaired, rearmed, and saw action across the Pacific. The Arizona was too damaged, and remains as a grave for more than 1,000 sailors.
May he rest in peace.
Thank you for your service, Sir.
Will he be buried onboard the Arizona with his shipmates?
I thought I had read somewhere that the survivors wanted to do that.
The odds are very high that grinning Japanese pilot did not survive the war.
Multiple battleships were sunk on that day...the only ones not returned to service were the Arizona and Oklahoma, along with the old battleship-turned-target-ship Utah.
I got to talk to a Pearl Harbor survivor in the early 1990’s. I was working at one of my dad’s construction sites during my wastrel days. An elderly gentleman with a cane walked up to see the progress, and struck up a conversation with me.
Turns out he was a machinist mate on the U.S.S. Vestal; the repair ship tied up next to the Arizona during the attack. Deep in the hull, his main memories of the attack were the hits meant for Arizona and the explosion.
Having survived the attack, he was posted to the Fletcher-class destroyer U.S.S. Haggard. During Okinawa, he was temporarily posted to the rudder area, when the machinery spaces, his regular duty station, were destroyed by a kamikaze. He was very lucky to be alive.
One definition of history is that it begins when the last living survivor passes on and there are no longer witnesses around to recall.
God Bless you Mr. Brunner. Thank you for your service, your courage and thank you for my freedom.
My guess is that none of the USS Arizona survivors were below decks when the ship was hit. All of the others were cremated.
RIP
Almost certain.
The Japanese naval air force was wiped from the skies 1942 - 1945. By the end of the war, almost no veteran pilots remained.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.