Posted on 12/08/2023 5:02:55 AM PST by DFG
The last remaining survivor of Pearl Harbor's USS Arizona has recalled the 'awful destruction' inflicted by the Japanese attack that killed 1,177 of his shipmates.
Louis A. Conter, now aged 102, was just 20 years old when Japan's warplanes entered the sky above the US naval base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
'Aloha. There's one thing you've got to remember and that's to remember Pearl Harbor,' he said on Thursday in a taped message used to commemorate the 'Day of Infamy's' anniversary.
A 1,760-pound armor-piecing bomb struck the USS Arizona leaving nearly 1,200 dead when the ship sank. The surprise attack left more than 2,400 dead across the base.
Conter wanted to attend the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony in Hawaii on Thursday but it was decided that he should remain in Grass Valley, California, to preserve his health.
However, five other survivors of the attack returned to Pearl Harbor for the ceremony to commemorate the assault, which propelled the United States into World War II.
At a previous event in 2021, Conter said: 'I was aboard the USS Arizona that morning and witnessed the awful destruction that occurred.
'I was grateful to have survived and to have had the opportunity to serve throughout World War II.
'It is a great honor to recognize the men and women who were a part of this history. And especially those who didn't get to see the legacy they would leave behind.
'Before I finish this I want to say, of the 2,403 servicemen that fell that day, 1,177 of my shipmates aboard the USS Arizona, God bless you. Today remains behind to those men.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The fact that any of us could write the obvious sarcastic DEI woke inspired retorts to undermine the sacrifice and heroism of these great men and women demonstrates the degree to which we need to extirpate the entire movement from our culture, starting at the top with our elite university presidents and agency principles like that justice idiot testifying why a holocaust survivor praying was a threat to abortion rights.
My Dad was there. Having breakfast in Schofield Barracks. That’s all he would tell me.
Lived to see the rise and decline of the American Empire.
Wow. Is he still alive?
He died in 2005. Also served in Korea and 2 tours in Vietnam. Buried at Arl Natl.
He doesn’t look a day over eighty five.
Imagine being the last guy alive that was there that day? On that day he may have doubted he’d make it to that evening.
God have mercy on their souls and give Peace to those they leave.
My father was in Borneo, a distant, isolated place to be for Americans when Japan launched its war, and on that day his ship received this message.
On 8 December (7 December in the United States) she received the message -”JAPAN STARTED HOSTILITIES; GOVERN YOURSELVES ACCORDINGLY”.
Looks damn good for 102.
He sure does. God bless him and all veterans.
He heard planes flying over, thinking they'd be the B-17s expected that day. When he saw there were meatballs on the wings, he thought to himself, "We're at war".
Retired a Navy Commander in 1965.
We need to remember our country and what we can achieve when we are unified.
God bless all who have given everything so that this country would survive.
Concerning the "Tears of the Arizona":
There is an urban legend that the oil leak will stop when the last Pearl Harbor survivor dies.https://imagesofrenewal.com/pearl-harbor/the-oil-from-the-uss-arizona-the-black-tears/
The USS "Eretz Yonah" was buried where she died, in an isolated grave (in the middle of a vast ocean) -- even at the crossroads (a replica of the iconic sign is located on the museum grounds).
Her memorial hovers like a dove, over the surface of the waters:
Limitations of the audience1177 souls lost that day...Why can’t Jacob reveal the ketz? When a person describes things or situations that lie within the range of his perception, he has words, concepts, and modes of expression for this. But when Jacob must speak of a phenomenon that is beyond his audience’s range of perception, it turns out that he lacks the vocabulary to express himself.
How can we explain to someone who has been blind from birth what other people see in the world? How can we explain to someone who is colorblind the difference between green and purple? These are things of which the listener has an utter lack of understanding. In such a case, there is a block, a real barrier in communication.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4973831/jewish/The-Concealed-End-of-Times.htm
Gen 37
10. And he told it to his father, and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow down ourselves to you to the earth:
11. And his brothers envied him; but his father kept the matter in mind [1177 ואביו שמר את־הדבר]:
Psalm 147
3. He heals the broken hearted, and binds up their wounds:
4. He counts the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names [לכלם שמות יקרא 1177]:
Word on the street is that her tears will stop when all of her children return from exile:
What a man.
It's a nicely done film, well worth a bookmark.
You are proud of course, and should be. My Dad was Navy, Seabees. He built the airstrip on Guam, the day after the US forces declared it was clear. Of course, there were still 5000 Japanese firing on them. He died 10 years ago. I served Air Navy during Vietnam.
This former sailor just wishes I could shake the hand of EVERY sailor on the Arizona.
They did not abandon their ship!
Given just minutes more, I believe a hundred more guns would have been flinging a wall of lead at the bastard Japs.
But, then the Arizona’s magazine blew and it was all over. So, So Sad.
My father-in-law died in 1988. He was an ensign in 1941 stationed aboard the Arizona in Pearl Harbor. He spoke French, German, Spanish and Italian as well as English so, naturally the Navy put him in the pacific.
He was a communications officer, he was off duty that day but was shaken out of bed by the attack and worked three days straight on the rescue efforts learning to dive in the process.
After that, the Navy moved him to the Atlantic where his language skills had some value. Later that same war he got to participate in D-Day.
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