Former Lt Commander Lou Conter, last remaining survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack on the USS Arizona has passed away. He was 102.
Go easy, squid
Former Lt Commander Lou Conter, last remaining survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack on the USS Arizona has passed away. He was 102.
Go easy, squid
Salute.
Respect.
Conter was a young sailor standing watch on the quarterdeck of the Arizona when Japanese bombers swarmed the skies over the Hawaiian island of Oahu and attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7. 1941.
To the left of the main wall is a small plaque which bears the names of thirty or so crew members who survived the 1941 sinking. Any surviving crew members of Arizona (or their families on their behalf) can have their ashes interred within the wreck by U.S. Navy divers
Fair winds and following seas Sir.
He had quite a military career after Pearl Harbor:
Mr. Conter went to flight school after Pearl Harbor, earning his wings to fly PBY patrol bombers, which the Navy used to look for submarines and bomb enemy targets. He flew 200 combat missions in the Pacific with a “Black Cats” squadron, which conducted dive bombings at night in planes painted black.
In 1943, he and his crew were shot down in waters near New Guinea and had to avoid a dozen sharks. A sailor expressed doubt they would survive, to which Mr. Conter replied, “baloney.”
“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.
In the late 1950s, he became one of the Navy’s first SERE officers — an acronym for survival, evasion, resistance and escape. He spent the next decade training Navy pilots and crew on how to survive if they were shot down in the jungle and captured as a prisoner of war. He went on to become a military adviser to Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He retired in 1967.
When Conter turned 100, he pinned the pilot wings he’d earned in World War II on his 29-year-old great nephew, US Marine Capt. Ray Daniel Hower.
Ever since the attack the Arizona has leaked oil and it's been said that when the last member of the crew passes the oil would stop. It will be interesting to see if this happens.
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