Yes, some of them were his friends. It was one of the biggest rescues in World War II, but no one knew about it because everything was top secret in those days.". They eventually bought a home-furnishings outlet farther inland and finally built their own store in Yuba City, north of Sacramento. He resumed one of his old jobs from the Arizona, piloting motor launches from the receiving station out to the Navy ships. Conter attended the same event and was seated next to Valerie. Part of his shoulder was blown off. Uncle Ray was nearing the end of his career in 1937 when John and Jake both decided to enlist. "I just got discharged. Photographs. He got the west coast and I got the east coast. Cook asked. His mother suggested Hills Business College in Oklahoma City. Langdell was an ensign, an entry-level officer, not yet a year in the Navy. He first visited the Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor on the 50thanniversary of the attack and has returned since. Only 335 men survived the bombing of the USS Arizona, the mighty battleship whose loss at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, inspired a nation to go to war. "What houses they built!" She tracked him to the Los Angeles area, then started a phone search. I wasn't working for nothing.". The sky began to darken and the wind grew. Early in the morning on Dec. 7, 1941, Japan's Imperial Navy launched a surprise airstrike on the US military base at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu . A painting of the Arizona hangs on the wall of a sitting room. At nights, Anderson was taking classes in meteorology and electronics, trying to learn skills that could help him stand out among all the returning servicemen and women. "I went back and told my mother I wasn't going up there anymore," he said. 1. After the war, he worked as a stuntman for Orson Welles and John Wayne and helped build Alan Ladd's house in the hills outside Hollywood. The ship was to turn around and steam toward Alaska. He stopped in the small town of Payson, Utah. Song's got some zip to it, he said. Yet in a place where you couldn't cross the street without running into a war vet, Bruner was not just another ex-sailor who made it home. High winds could slam one ship into the other and sink one or both of the vessels. Coast watchers were military intelligence operatives who gathered information about enemy activities on islands across the South Pacific. "It was a big ship with a lot of metal, I'll tell you." Bruner was at his battle station in an anti-aircraft gun director, a metal box on the forward mast of the Arizona, when an armor-piercing bomb ignited the ship's powder magazine. He is one of nine living survivors of the Arizona and, at 97, he has amassed a lifetime of unforgettable days. Potts says, shaking his head. As the 50thanniversary of the attack neared, Langdell got a call from a documentary filmmaker. Bruner was put in charge of the gun batteries. In the documentary, "The Life and Death of a Lady," Langdell and Abe speak, side by side on the memorial. Anderson went aboard the USS Edsall, a destroyer that supported various military action at sea and ashore. Then we had to go back.". "Would you like to listen to it?" "They agreed.". Her father was an engineer and a top executive for a dredging company with a big Navy contract. About halfway through the cruise, the Pringle was ordered to accompany the battleship Iowa to Africa, where President Roosevelt was to attend a conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Morocco. Langdell says only this: "It took two days to take all the bodies. I still get to the point when I'm talking about it, first thing you know, I go to bed at night, wake up and can't sleep for a week.". "It ain't worth a damn if it ain't loaded," he says. UPDATE:Joe Langdell diedin February 2015, months after this report. All but one of the Pacific fleet's battleships were in port that morning, most of them moored to quays flanking Ford Island. Cook was a gunner's mate on the Arizona. "Say your prayers, men, we're seven miles off shore and we're in 10, 15-foot swells," one of the officers said as the crew abandoned the plane. As a youngster, Anderson heard stories about the Navy from his uncle, a man named Ray Stokes. He keeps the mementos from his experience the maps, the photos, the clippings, the medals, the painting in a room behind a door on the side wall of the living room in the house where he has lived for 54 years. That fateful day led the United States . "That lumber was so damn green then, we used to kid we had to shoot the squirrels out of it.". Stratton's eyes brighten. No one among the groups knew where he was or what he was doing, but the woman persisted. "I would tell them. The Pentagon said Tuesday it would exhume and try to identify the remains of nearly 400 sailors and Marines killed when the USS Oklahoma sank in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. "The station wagon was for the captains of some of the ships that would come in," he said. Just stories, the kind buddies tell each other. medge. Potts was based out of the port director's office there were two, one at the harbor, one on the ninth floor of the Aloha Tower in downtown Honolulu but he logged most of his hours at the controls of the motor boat, a Jeep or a station wagon. The ships sent up their own planes and turned back the assault. Be immersed in the details of the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor and . He fought cold and hunger on a ship nearly dead in the ocean off Alaska. Yes, he'll say, he was on the Arizona and he survived. The Japanese military had established strategic outposts in the Aleutian Islands and had its eye on Alaska. Bruner laughs as he remembers the conversation. "Randy, come and turn on the music box." He got to know Alan Ladd, who had starred in a series of war movies. "No one knew where the hell I was," Bruner says. Finally, the tanker spotted the destroyer. "We can't forget what happened there that day. ages 2, 3 and 8, together with a 14-year-old cousin . "I was on a date on that Saturday night with a gal I'd been running around with," he says. How could he say no? Stratton could not. Handout . The ship was moored in the shallows of Pearl Harbor's . An impressive collection of restaurant menus from 30 years of cross-country searches for used cars. As Cactus Jack, Anderson made a few concessions to his seagoing past. Once a month or so, Clarendon Hetrick's phone rings with a call from Utah. Browse 2,614 pearl harbor attack stock photos and images available, or search for world war ii or pearl harbor 1941 to find more great stock photos and pictures. He wasn't ready to see it all again, to sharpen the memories he'd tried to dull. "I decided I'd do whatever they told me to. ", "Fine," the worker said. For an hour or so, the two men talk. Within a day or two, someone came into the ward and said a few of the wounded would be sent to California. "He saved six people's lives. At dawn on December 7, 1941, more than half of the United States Pacific Fleet, approximately 150 vessels and service craft, lay at anchor or alongside piers in Pearl Harbor. As he recounts the experience, he rubs his hands together, then holds them out, turning them over. Conter told him about the lost orders. The next night, an American PT boat retrieved all 10 men. Lou Conter is telling the story of the night his patrol bomber was shot down seven miles off the coast of New Guinea, dumping the seaplane's 10-man crew into the Pacific Ocean. No one seemed to be in charge on Ford Island, where Cook had spent the night. He wanted to interview Langdell for his project. He went out to the floating memorial. "It gets your breath when you first see it," he says. sinastria di coppia karmica calcolo; quincy homeless shelter; plastic bags for cleaning oven racks; claudia procula death; farm jobs in vermont with housing A few years later, a new station owner showed Anderson his plans to start a TV station. "Knock it off. After the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the United States opted to construct a naval base in 1899. Late in the year, after an overhaul in San Francisco, the Coghlan returned to patrol duty off the Aleutians with a half dozen other U.S. vessels. He keeps it with him when he travels. "I can understand that," Ray Jr. says. Bruner's neighbor, who has become a close friend and a source of transportation, picks the fruit to keep it from rotting on the ground. Potts was returning to the Arizona with fresh produce when the first Japanese bombers dove into Pearl Harbor. Were there sharks Pearl Harbor? On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Cook was changing clothes at his locker, savoring the thought of a day in Honolulu with the $60 he'd won in a craps game the night before. Langdell knew Libby was friends with a skater in the Ice Follies, which was summering in San Francisco. The buddy wasn't home, but his son-in-law answered. When the fourth bomb detonated in the powder magazine, anyone left was blown over the side. UPDATE: Bruner died in 2019. "We took all the bodies we could find.". Potts was touched. "You I know.") Lonnie had taken up trap shooting and hoped to do a little hunting back home. "It didn't take me that long. Anything you choose is fine. Sailors jumped into fires to escape sinking vessels. He sits in his wheelchair as his son recites the narrative, keeping his father's story alive. The tanker towed them to Adak, Alaska, and from there, another ship took the crippled destroyer to San Francisco for repairs. He kept the truck, held on to it through repairs, engine overhauls, new paint jobs. CARNIVOROUS SHARKS. world war ii. On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy bombed the Pearl Harbor Naval base in a surprise attack. He stayed on the 17thfloor of a hotel on Waikiki Beach. Or both. In U.S. history the name recalls the surprise Japanese air attack on December 7, 1941, that temporarily crippled the U.S. Fleet and resulted in the United States' entry into World War II. When she says anything, I tell her I'm catching up from the war.". Before the big battleship could leave Puget Sound, Anderson volunteered for another mission, joining the small Asiatic Fleet along the coast of China. He finally received his orders to return to the states. He introduced him to other officers. Sometimes he can't control his emotions, so he declines speaking requests. popeyes vs chicken express; do venmo requests expire The guns hit the periscope. We had survival training on the job. And he keeps it loaded. And he still likes to talk about that other young fellow from Oklahoma, the one who didn't make it home. As he walked past a bar, still in his Navy uniform, a fellow popped out the door and looked Anderson up and down, checking him out more closely someone would ordinarily. The inscription reads "Spirit of Aloha Award, Timpview High School Marching Band.". Pearl Harbor Warbirds offers the best Hawai'i flight adventure tours available. A bow. Why not try radio? "I didn't have any speaking parts, but I was working for the studio and they paid me.". It's in good shape for a paper.". The fellow told him to report to the front gate of Sam Goldwyn's studio in Hollywood on Monday morning. June 12, 2022 June 12, 2022 0 Comments June 12, 2022 0 Comments He asked if Jeanne could come with him. In his dining room in Colorado Springs, he keeps a replica of a hard diving helmet, the kind his divers used. For some reason I had always thought that the titanic had gone down way farther North. 5 Jun. As anniversaries of the attack passed, Ray Jr. would asked his dad if he wanted to visit the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor. As a tender, he stayed on the surface, monitoring the divers working on rigs, piers, pipelines, any piece of seaside or seagoing equipment. "It just didn't appeal to me to bring it up," he says. Anderson would serve another 23 years before finally retiring once more. He was able to visit the national cemetery at an area called the Punch Bowl. The Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor began just before 8 a.m. local time Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. Friends told them when the left the church, keep the water on their left. A while back, Stratton and his wife Velma retired to Yuma and lived there about 15 years. five letter words with l; jaiswal surname caste; pros and cons of herzberg theory; sechrest funeral home obituaries; curious george stuffed animal 1975; cornerstone staffing application 0 "You can't get a guy hungry in three or four days," Conter says. "We took off," Bruner said, "firing just as fast as we could. He took up golf seriously in Palm Springs and played in the Bob Hope Classic six times, once on a team with crooner Johnny Mathis. He watched the band perform and stood as a survivor of the Arizona, one of the sailors who lived. "They said he was a tough bastard, but that's exactly what they needed.". Of the 1,196 men aboard, 900 made it into the water alive. He hired on with a farm labor contractor and within a year, he and a guy he worked with started their own business, contracting with the orchard owners to harvest crops. Pictures of past parades. "He wanted the east coast, I wanted the west coast. The Coghlan left San Francisco in September 1942 and sailed toward Pearl Harbor for an assignment. . Japan and China were at war again and America was trying to protect its interests without getting involved in the conflict. He has trouble remembering the past. This all changed when the United States declared war on Japan, bringing the country into World War II. 4. Until his partner ran off with all the money. A year later, he felt better, so he re-enlisted. On the morning of May 8, the fighting intensified as American aircraft tried to turn back the enemy planes. The next morning, the Arizona was still burning as oil flowed out of her full tanks. "It never gets easy to go back," he says. As he prepared for his new posting on the Frazier, Langdell decided to make a move. "What are you looking at?" That same year, he met his wife, Valerie, in Palm Springs. Haerry ran away from home to join the Navy. Occasionally, they head into Okmulgee for an evening out at the One Fire, a casino operated by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. For a long time, Haerry never talked about his experiences at Pearl Harbor. The Stratton men have taken up a more personal cause. Conter told the admiral he was interested in flight school, but doubted he would earn admission. Nobody could debate what that was, no question about it.". He told his story as his son, Ted, recorded it on video. Langdell is one of the last nine survivors from the Arizona. 11 Oldest Pearl Harbor Survivors (Updated 2021) December 7, 1941 is a date that everyone in America has committed to memory. He describes the store of booze they pulled out of safe and the money. The primer went in last, before the end of the gun was sealed shut. Seabirds. The woman helped connect Bruner with other survivors from the Arizona and Pearl Harbor. He was in the studio on Valentine's Day 1955 when a nervous young man walked in. He finished his training and was discharged in December 1945. Stratton falls easily into the memories of his years on diving boats. He once helped design programs that sent soldiers into the wilds for days or weeks at a time. "I've gotten letters from some of the officer candidates who had my father as an instructor," Ray Jr. says. But he didn't want to start his civilian life in the brig, so he left it in Honolulu. "Sometimes they'd get shooting at you and you'd look at the shells and they looked like they were going to hit you. He asked what the fellow did. There, he lost his twin brother, "It was a bloody catastrophe, a bloody mess," he says. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in February 1954, the rank he held until he retired. He called back a few days later. Joe proposed and Libby accepted. He made bargemaster on a huge drilling rig, but yearned for something more interesting, so he got a job as a tender with a commercial deep sea diving business. He was 20 when he escaped the burning wreckage ofthe USS Arizonain Pearl Harbor. After Pearl Harbor, Langdell asked for a posting on one of the new destroyers the Navy was set to launch. Among his responsibilities was overseeing the naval officers' clubs in the area. He doesn't need to say which Saturday night by now. "We're were out and around.