The last living survivor of the USS Arizona, a battleship sunk in the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, died at age 102.
Lou Conter died Monday at his home in Grass Valley, California, after complications with congestive heart failure, said his daughter Louann Daley.
He was only 18 years old when he enlisted in the US Navy and was a quartermaster who was on the main deck of the Arizona when Japanese planes flew over and attacked on December 7, 1941.
“I said, ‘Okay, I’ll sign up,’ so I signed up for four years. I was going to leave at 5:45 that night,” Conter said. KCRA.
The assault, which launched the United States into World War II, destroyed most of the fleet stationed at the Hawaii naval base and led to the deaths of more than 2,000 Americans.
About 20 people who participated in the surprise attack are still alive today.
Lou Conter, the last living survivor of the USS Arizona that was attacked in 1941 by Japan, died Monday at age 102 due to complications from congestive heart failure.
The assault, which launched the United States into World War II, destroyed most of the fleet stationed at the Hawaii naval base and led to the deaths of more than 2,000 Americans.
He was only 18 years old when he enlisted in the US Navy and was a quartermaster who was on the main deck of the Arizona when Japanese planes flew overhead on December 7, 1941.
Conter recalled the same moment the bomb hit the steel decks and detonated more than 1 million pounds of gunpowder that was stored beneath.
“Guys were running out of the fire and trying to jump over the sides,” Conter said. “The oil was burning all over the sea.”
In December, Conter, who wanted to attend the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony in Hawaii, decided not to do so to preserve his health.
At an earlier event in 2021, Conter said, “I was aboard the USS Arizona that morning and witnessed the terrible destruction that occurred.”
“I was grateful to have survived and had the opportunity to serve during World War II.”
‘It is a great honor to recognize the men and women who were 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 soldiers who fell that day, 1,177 of my companions aboard the USS Arizona, God bless them. Today is behind those men.’
‘Many people call us heroes, but in reality we are not. Those who gave everything, their lives, are the heroes.’
Other survivors who attended the ceremony returned to the site of Pearl Harbor together.
The memorial took place in a field across the harbor from the USS Arizona Memorial, a white structure that sits atop the rusting hull of the battleship, which exploded in a fireball and sank shortly after being hit.
Although 80 years had passed, Conter vividly remembered what happened that tragic day.
Conter is seen at the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 2016.
“As soon as they came in, we knew what was going on,” he said.
‘We knew for six months that we were training hard to fight the Japanese in the war. They were dive bombing and were right on the edge of the ship.
‘We didn’t have time to look up and see what was coming. They were now right at the edge of the water. It lasted about 40 minutes. We placed a 50 to 60 hundred pound bomb next to turret number two.
He added that although they tried to counterattack, ‘there was no time to do anything.’
“It happened very quickly,” Conter said.
He then flew 200 combat missions in the Pacific with a squadron of ‘Black Cats’, which conducted dive bombing raids at night in black-painted aircraft.
In 1943, he and his crew were shot down off the coast of New Guinea and landed in shark-infested waters.
‘Never panic in any situation. Survive is the first thing you tell them. Don’t panic or you’re dead,” she said. They were calm and floating in the water until hours later another plane arrived and dropped a lifeboat on them,” 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 1950s.
He was a military advisor to Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.
Although 80 years had passed, Conter vividly remembered what happened that tragic day. He said that although he and his crew tried to fight back, “there was no time to do anything.”
Conter will be buried in Grass Valley, next to his late wife to whom he was married for 45 years.
He retired in 1967 after serving 28 years in the United States Navy. (pictured: Conter looking at the names of the sailors who died at Pearl Harbor)
He retired in 1967 after serving 28 years in the United States Navy.
Aileen Utterdyke, president and CEO of Pacific Historic Parks, a nonprofit that honors those who died in the attack, said Conter’s death “is a heartbreaking loss.”
“Lou Conter personified what it means to be a member of the Greatest Generation, Americans whose collective courage, achievements and sacrifices saved our country from tyranny.”
“He had an exemplary career in the Navy and stood firm in imploring schools, parents and ordinary Americans to always remember Pearl Harbor.”
Daley said that in the months leading up to his tragic death, his father had been growing weaker and had been in palliative care for the past four weeks.
‘I’m glad he’s at peace. I’m glad you didn’t suffer. “I know when he transitioned, there were a lot of people waiting for him: his wife Val, who he loves very much,” Daley said.
Before he passed away, he told his family that he loved them and thanked them for taking care of him.
Conter will be buried in Grass Valley, next to his late wife to whom he was married for 45 years. His family said funeral arrangements are being made and there will be a ceremony with military honors.