By 1941, he worked the cranes on the ship, a job that entailed retrieving the Arizona's small seaplanes after they landed on the water. Song's got some zip to it, he said. We can't let it happen again.". He hasn't hunted in a while, though he still reloads his own ammunition on a garage workbench. The first couple of trips back to Hawaii were difficult. Haerry felt the entire ship life out of the water. "We had to have two crews, a regular crew and a stand-by crew lined up waiting," Bruner said. He started chatting up a regular customer, a contractor, and got a job building houses. 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. Cook asked. "It acknowledges to people that I'm a survivor," Joe replies, his voice soft. The job wasn't what he expected in September, when he was discharged from the Navy. Cook was a gunner's mate on the Arizona. Helpless, I watched your bomb sink the Arizona in nine minutes.". He heard the same stories from his grandmother and his aunts. He had turned down a promotion to ensign, preferring the camaraderie of the enlisted ranks. person grazed by a shark), nor incidents classified by the International Shark Attack File as boat attacks, scavenge, or doubtful. Among those killed were over 1,700 aboard the USS Arizona, 103 . Ted asks. "Lots of big band songs," Randy says, as the first bars of a brass line pour from the speakers. "Hi," he said, introducing himself. He remembers the crewman trying to climb a ladder to escape through a hatchway on the deck. Sharks in turn were revered because they . Pictures of past parades. The smile widens. He asked for volunteers. "I just didn't want to. We got into a run-and-gun battle. The woman helped connect Bruner with other survivors from the Arizona and Pearl Harbor. did sharks attack titanic survivors - epcorcentre.org Cook was assigned to the USS Patterson, then two months later, transferred to the Aylwin, a destroyer that had been moored at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 and engaged the bombers as the attack began. 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. Before the war started, a hospital stay that long would have earned a sailor a discharge, but not anymore. The studios needed tough men who could handle dangerous situations. Soon, he became one of the earliest TV weathermen and an evening fixture in Roswell homes, or at least those with televisions. a director yelled. 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. ", "I was," Anderson said. The crews learned the routines of the Japanese ships. He returned to Oklahoma again and started his own business, outfitting a one-ton Ford pickup with a winch and other equipment that let him work the oil fields. Lonnie had taken up trap shooting and hoped to do a little hunting back home. A year later, he felt better, so he re-enlisted. For a long time, Haerry never talked about his experiences at Pearl Harbor. Military Casualties. After the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the United States opted to construct a naval base in 1899. Hetrick shrugs, trying to get comfortable in the recliner. "It was rough weather, foggy, raining cold," Anderson said. Bruner was the second-to-last man to leave the sinking ship. Inside deadliest shark attack EVER as 150 sailors from USS Indianapolis He spent long months on a tender, a vessel that carries equipment, parts and other supplies for ships at sea. Conter's crews flew missions across the South Pacific: New Guinea, Borneo, New Britain, the coast off Perth, Australia. They spoil their granddaughters and can now move on to a new great-granddaughter. His wife, Libby, who died two years ago. They trade stories. "But it was a lot better than being shot at.". They found a way to take prints from the edges of his fingers, enough to satisfy the law. We all have to remember that they did not die in vain.". Their ordeal . did sharks eat pearl harbor victims. "The hat represents the Arizona. The Navy occasionally cuts away small bits of the wreckage for memorials. Hetrick slept on the battleship USS Tennessee, which had been moored just ahead of the Arizona along Ford Island. A carnivorous shark diet usually includes fish, mollusks, and crustaceans. He knew his brother hadn't made it off the Arizona alive, but he didn't know much else. With a gun, he could defend himself. "The Arizona was a fighting battleship," Joe says. "He's there for me. Discipline seems less important than it was in his day. They danced. Did he know anything about meteorology? "You I know.") Dec 12 2014. Bruner and the Coghlan returned to Honolulu and finished out the war in the South Pacific. He was still active, so would report to the Navy Pier each morning to check a list for the names of sailors who had been given duties for the day. He said, 'whatever I can get out of you.' "Randy, come and turn on the music box." No sharks did not eat Titanic passengers. Other crewmen would roll out the shell, use a mechanical device to ram it in, then load four bags of powder behind it. It identifies Stratton as a survivor of the attack that sank the ship. His oldest son had joined the Navy and his first posting was aboard the USS Ouellet, a frigate. "We'd send two guys out to knock the icicles off the guns, then they'd high-tail it back in. "He's there anytime I call him," Hetrick says. As far he was concerned he was saving lives.". "I was always wanting to learn more when I was younger," says Hetrick's younger son, Robert, who lives not far from his dad in Las Vegas. He settled in Palm Springs and built a career as a real estate developer, buying up land for commercial and residential projects. A woman from Illinois drew Bruner's name. "I didn't have any speaking parts, but I was working for the studio and they paid me.". "I would tell them. 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. Pearl Harbor Warbirds offers the best Hawai'i flight adventure tours available. Langdell will return to the Arizona once more. "They gave me 30 minutes to get off the ship and catch a transport to San Diego for training," he said. The day after, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared it "a date which will live in infamy," and Congress . "I bought it at the receiving station in Pearl Harbor. He doesn't like to talk about the attack. You need the exercise. did sharks attack titanic survivors. He was cut loose in San Francisco and returned to Los Angeles, where he had married a girl back in late 1942. "These guys were the first heroes of the war, even though the war hasn't been declared," Ray Jr. says. "OK," Bruner said. They were trying to replenish submarines or send smaller ships in. "We're were out and around. Framed medals. That didn't last long and he headed back to Morris, where he met Marietta. They catch up. View of "Battleship Row" during or . Knives. During WW2, did sailors get eaten by sharks? - Quora He enrolled, but after a couple of weeks, the noisy streetcars and the police sirens kept him up all night. Conter attended the same event and was seated next to Valerie. "That's what I want to remember. On the morning of May 8, the fighting intensified as American aircraft tried to turn back the enemy planes. But he didn't want to start his civilian life in the brig, so he left it in Honolulu. on the Arizonawhen the battleship sankon Dec. 7. the final survivor to be interred in the ship. That caught the lieutenant colonel's interest. Haerry accepts the chocolate bars his son has brought him. Abe's Pearl Harbor speech has been well received in Japan, where most people expressed the opinion that it struck the right balance of regret that the Pacific war occurred, but offered . DES MOINES, Iowa - A World War II veteran thought to be the oldest survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack died last month at 103. He will tell his story to people he knows well and trusts, but he is 93 and the details are fading from his memory. Anderson decided he had nothing to lose. Pearl Harbor, naval base and headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Honolulu county, southern Oahu Island, Hawaii, U.S. Interesting Facts About Wai Momi (Pearl Harbor) - Pearl Harbor Finally, after a few weeks on the tanker, Potts was handed a new assignment. Posted on December 7, 2021, 5:08 pm. "Through all that, I never did lose consciousness," he says. When Anderson said he was, his old friend was incredulous. His mother had moved to Decatur, Ill., by then, so he followed and took a job at a hardware store. How remains of personnel killed in Pearl Harbor are - NewsNation He wrote Libby a letter and suggested it would be a good idea if Libby visited her friend on or about a particular date. "Once after we crossed the equator, one of the planes came back," he says. The ones that gave him nightmares, the stories from the day he nearly burned to death, he kept to himself. Potts returned to Illinois in late 1945 to await his formal discharge, hanging out in Chicago. His old co-pilot in the New Guinea days was asked once if he'd had survival training for the war. Yes, some of them were his friends. He survived, but was burned badly over two-thirds of his body. Similarly, the . He was assigned a battle station in the No. I don't think sharks go that far. The family visited the Arizona memorial and toured other sites near the harbor. Inside the packets were the captains' new orders, military secrets, classified information that required clearance to handle. It turned out most of the regular stuntmen were still in the military. He describes the store of booze they pulled out of safe and the money. did sharks eat pearl harbor victims - soapidea.com He thinks back. Kuwait. Hetrick saw a new opportunity and joined. He liked the idea of working as an aircraft mechanic, so he volunteered. Mess hall duty. The unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor killed more than 2,400 Americans and struck a blow to the Navy's Pacific fleet, which had been based at Pearl Harbor. Octopus. When they sent me my discharge, I just stayed here.". The job paid $700. The band had won a trophy in one of the competitions during their stay in Honolulu. The ship was to turn around and steam toward Alaska. The ships sent up their own planes and turned back the assault. Joe Langdell found a table in the wardroom of one of the ships moored in Pearl Harbor and sat down with his breakfast. I couldn't.". He was nervous about volunteering for anything, but he raised his hand. The exhausted crew dragged ashore an hour later and hid in the jungle, fearful they would be captured by Japanese soldiers. Libby had arranged stays north of the city. It sits a little higher than most items, but not necessarily on a platform. His new employer manufactured industrial refrigeration units. But one day and one place in Cook's 94 years seem to embody all the rest, the day in December 1941 when the young sailor from Oklahoma escaped the ship that sent America to war. The cities were in ruins. A while later, he and Marietta were on the road again, to a missile base in Sturgess, S.D., to gas lines in Wisconsin and North Dakota. In Alaska, he helped set up platforms that could keep up with tides that rose and fell as much as 32 feet. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He is one of nine living survivors from the attack on the USS Arizona, the battleship he boarded in 1941 when he was 17. What Do Sharks Eat [2022] Great Whites & Many More Species 5 Jun. The planes could fly at low altitudes, then buzz upward for a bombing run, confounding enemy gunners trying to calculate speed and distance. Hetrick took a motor launch to the receiving station on shore, where he and other survivors were allowed to shower and given a change of clothes. 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.". "We got into San Francisco," he says, "and they never even opened my bags. "You either had a nice place aboard a ship and were high and dry or you didn't have anything," he reasoned. A year after World War II ended, Haerry went home for a while and married a girl he'd met not long before. His job was to put the primer in the big 14-inch gun. That same year, he met his wife, Valerie, in Palm Springs. He started on a small station, playing organ music. UPDATE: Bruner died in 2019. He had taken a bullet to the back of his leg as he was climbing the tower, but the burns were far worse. Deer and rabbits wander the hillside. "We had 10 or 12 sharks around us all the time," Conter says. A storm was approaching, a big one by the looks of it. "Iremember hearing explosions at first," he says. "Listen, all those men down there on that ship, a thousand of them, they wouldn't do it and I don't think they'd want me to do it," he says. Lonnie and Marietta Cook met in Morris after the war, but the road to their home here today winds thousands of miles across the country. Abe offered condolences and said he prayed that all their souls were at peace. Three years ago, Ray Jr. received a call from a lieutenant colonel in the Rhode Island National Guard. 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. popeyes vs chicken express; do venmo requests expire He was on his own once again, he and his young family. It scared him a little. "I was on a date on that Saturday night with a gal I'd been running around with," he says. He needed a truck to carry equipment back and forth, so he scouted out a car lot and bought a 1965 Chevrolet pickup. For over an hour, in two waves, some 350 Japanese aircrafthaving taken off from six . He resumed one of his old jobs from the Arizona, piloting motor launches from the receiving station out to the Navy ships.