The last living survivor of the USS Arizona, a battleship sunk in the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, has died aged 102.
Lou Conter passed away on Monday at his home in Grass Valley, California, after complications with congestive heart failure, his daughter Louann Daley said.
He was just 18 when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was a quartermaster who stood on the main deck of the Arizona when Japanese planes flew over and attacked on December 7, 1941.
“I said, “Ok, I’ll sign up”, so I signed up for four years, I was going to leave at 5:45 that night,’ Conter told KCRA.
The assault, which launched the United States into World War II, destroyed most of the fleet stationed at the Hawaii naval base and resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 Americans.
Around 20 people who were at the surprise attack remain alive today.
As soon as they came in, we knew what was happening,’ he said.
‘We knew for six months we were training hard for fighting the Japanese at war. They were dive bombing, and they were right down the ship’s edge.’
‘We didn’t have time to look up and see what was coming. They were already right down at the water’s edge. It lasted for about 40 minutes. We took a 50-60-hundred-pound bomb alongside the number two turret.’
He added that even though they tried to fight back, ‘there was no time to do anything.’
‘It happened so fast,’ Conter said.
He went on to fly 200 combat missions in the Pacific with a ‘Black Cats’ squadron, which directed dive bombing at night in black-painted planes.
In 1943, he and his crew were shot down off the coast of New Guinea and landed in shark-infested waters.
‘Don’t ever panic in any situation. Survive is the first thing you tell them. Don’t panic or you’re dead,” he said. They were quiet and treaded water until another plane came hours later and dropped them a lifeboat,’ Conter recalled.
As an intelligence officer, he flew combat missions in Korea and created the Navy’s first SERE (survival, evasion, resistance and escape) program in the late 1950’s.
He retired in 1967 after serving 28 years in the U.S. Navy.
Aileen Utterdyke, president and CEO of Pacific Historic Parks, a non-profit that honors those who died in the attack, said that Conter’s death ‘is a heartbreaking loss.’
‘Lou Conter epitomized what it meant to be a member of the Greatest Generation, Americans whose collective courage, accomplishments and sacrifices saved our country from tyranny.’
‘He had an exemplary career in the Navy and was steadfast in imploring the schools, parents and everyday Americans to always remember Pearl Harbor.’
FWAFS
