- Lou Conter, the terminating dwelling Pearl Harbor survivor who was once boarded the USS Arizona when it exploded and sank, died Monday. He was once 102.
- Conter, who was once a quartermaster on Dec. 7, 1941, was once at the send’s primary deck when Eastern planes flew overhead and started their attack at the Hawaii naval bottom.
- Conter’s illustrious occupation would proceed lengthy next Pearl Harbor. A educated pilot and member of a “Black Cats” squadron, Conter was once additionally the Army’s first survival, evasion, resistance and departure — or SERE — officer. He retired in 1967.
The terminating dwelling survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that exploded and sank all over the Eastern bombing of Pearl Harbor has died. Lou Conter was once 102.
Conter gave up the ghost at his house Monday in Grass Valley, California following congestive middle failure, his daughter, Louann Daley mentioned.
The Arizona misplaced 1,177 sailors and Marines within the 1941 assault that introduced america into World War II. The battleship’s useless account for just about part of the ones killed within the awe assault.
PEARL HARBOR SURVIVOR ABOARD THE USS ARIZONA REMEMBERS ATTACK 79 YEARS LATER
Conter was once a quartermaster, status at the primary deck of the Arizona as Eastern planes flew overhead at 7:55 a.m. on Dec. 7 that presen. Sailors have been simply starting to hoist colours or elevate the flag when the attack started.
Conter recalled how one bomb penetrated metal decks 13 mins into the fight and prompt greater than 1 million kilos of gunpowder saved under.
The explosion lifted the battleship 30 to 40 ft out of the aqua, he mentioned all over a 2008 oral historical past interview saved on the Library of Congress. The whole lot was once on hearth from the mainmast ahead, he mentioned.
“Guys were running out of the fire and trying to jump over the sides,” Conter mentioned. “Oil all over the sea was burning.”
His autobiography “The Lou Conter Story” recounts how he joined alternative survivors in tending to the injured, lots of them blinded and badly burned. The sailors handiest alone send when their senior surviving officer was once positive that they had rescued all the ones nonetheless alive.
The rusting wreckage of the Arizona nonetheless lies in waters the place it sank. Greater than 900 sailors and Marines stay entombed within.
FILE – Pearl Harbor survivor Lou Conter, 101, is visible at his house in Grass Valley, Calif., Nov. 18, 2022. Conter, the terminating dwelling survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that exploded and sank all over the Eastern bombing of Pearl Harbor, died on Monday, April 1, 2024, following congestive middle failure, his daughter mentioned. He was once 102. (AP Photograph/Lavish Pedroncelli, Document)
Conter was at aviation faculty next Pearl Harbor, incomes his wings to fly PBY patrol bombers, which the Navy worn to search for submarines and bomb enemy objectives. He flew 200 fight missions within the Pacific with a “Black Cats” squadron, which performed dive bombing at evening in planes painted unlit.
In 1943, he and his group have been shot ill in waters similar Pristine Guinea and needed to keep away from a lot sharks. A sailor expressed uncertainty they’d live on, to which Conter spoke back, “baloney.”
“Don’t ever panic in any situation. Survive is the first thing you tell them. Don’t panic or you’re dead,” he mentioned. They have been peace and treaded aqua till every other aircraft got here hours upcoming and dropped them a lifeboat.
Within the overdue Nineteen Fifties, he was once made the Army’s first SERE officer — an acronym for survival, evasion, resistance and departure. He spent the after decade coaching Army pilots and group on methods to live on in the event that they’re shot ill within the forest and captured as a prisoner of warfare. A few of his pupils worn his classes as POWs in Vietnam.
Conter retired in 1967 next 28 years within the Army.
Conter was once born in Ojibwa, Wisconsin, on Sept. 13, 1921. His folk upcoming moved to Colorado the place he walked 5 miles one method to faculty outdoor Denver. His area didn’t have operating aqua so he attempted out for the soccer workforce — much less for a love of the game and extra for the reason that avid gamers may just whisk showers in school next apply.
He enlisted within the Army next he grew to become 18, getting $17 a generation and a hammock for his bunk at boot camp.
In his upcoming years, Conter was a fixture at annual remembrance ceremonies in Pearl Harbor that the Army and the National Park Service collectively hosted at the anniversaries of the 1941 assault. When he lacked the energy to wait in individual, he recorded video messages for many who accrued and watched remotely from his house in California.
In 2019, when he was once 98, he mentioned he preferred going to keep in mind those that misplaced their lives.
“It’s always good to come back and pay respect to them and give them the top honors that they deserve,” he mentioned.
Although many handled the shrinking staff of Pearl Harbor survivors as heroes, Conter refused the label.
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“The 2,403 men that died are the heroes. And we’ve got to honor them ahead of everybody else. And I’ve said that every time, and I think it should be stressed,” Conter informed The Related Press in a 2022 interview at his California house.
