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.
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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.”
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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 ...
God Bless him. It’s hard to imagine the changes this man has seen in 98 years.
Always brings a tear to my eye.
The story says he will be interred there with his shipmates.
The Hymn when played is a masterpiece.
Indeed.
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