The last living survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that sank at Pearl Harbor has died.
Lou Conter, 101, died Monday at his home in Grass Valley, California, as a result of congestive heart failure, his daughter, Louann Daley said, according to ABC News. Daley and her two brothers were with Conter when he died.
The USS Arizona battleship exploded and sank during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941.
There were 1,177 sailors and Marines who perished on the Arizona. The attack by Japan thrusted the U.S. into declaring war and formally entering World War II.
Those who died on the Arizona account for nearly half of those killed in the attack, the outlet reported.
“Conter was a quartermaster, standing on the main deck of the Arizona as Japanese planes flew overhead at 7:55 a.m. on Dec. 7 that year,” ABC News reported.
Conter said one bomb went through steel decks 13 minutes into the battle and set off more than 1 million pounds of gunpowder stored below, per the outlet.
“Guys were running out of the fire and trying to jump over the sides,” Conter said. “Oil all over the sea was burning.”
His autobiography “The Lou Conter Story” told how he joined other survivors in tending to the injured — many who were blinded and badly burned.
“The sailors only abandoned ship when their senior surviving officer was sure they had rescued all those still alive,” according to ABC News.
The Arizona remains where it sank with more than 900 sailors and Marines remain entombed inside, per the outlet.
Just 335 Arizona crew members survived.
Conter went to flight school after Pearl Harbor and flew 200 combat missions in the Pacific with a “Black Cats” squadron, which conducted dive bombing at night in planes painted black.
In 1943, he and his crew were shot down in water near New Guinea and needed to avoid sharks to stay alive. When one sailor doubted the group would survive, 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, according to ABC News.
They remained quiet and treaded water until another plane came hours later and dropped a lifeboat, per the outlet.
Conter retired in 1967 after 28 years in the Navy.
When he was close to death, he told his family he loved them, thanked them for being with him and taking care of him at home.
“I’m glad he’s at peace. I’m glad he didn’t suffer. I know when he transitioned over, he had so many people there waiting for him – his wife Val, who he loved dearly,” Daley said.
Currently, there are 19 survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack still living, according to Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.
About 87,000 military personnel were on Oahu when the attack occurred, according to a rough estimate compiled by military historian J. Michael Wenger.
Conter regularly remembrance ceremonies in Pearl Harbor that the Navy and the National Park Service jointly hosted on the anniversaries of the 1941 attack. If he could not be there in person, he recorded video messages.
“It’s always good to come back and pay respect to them and give them the top honors that they deserve,” he said.
Though many treated the shrinking group of Pearl Harbor survivors as heroes, Conter did not, ABC News reported.
“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 told The Associated Press in a 2022 interview at his California home.
