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.
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.
The odds are very high that grinning Japanese pilot did not survive the war.
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.
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
A great American and a great hero. I’m highly honored to be friends with one of the three remaining Arizona survivors and will be attending his 98th birthday celebration tomorrow.
https://youtu.be/T_L0kWTqPiA
Depression, dust bowl, and then Pearl Harbor. If needed I hope the latest generation will rise to the occasion. Large shoes to fill.
RIP.
God Bless him. It’s hard to imagine the changes this man has seen in 98 years.