'They were burned pretty badly:' Pearl Harbor survivor aboard USS Arizona remembers attack 79 years later

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Pearl Harbor survivor aboard the USS Arizona remembers attack 79 years later

Lou Conter, one of last two living survivors of USS Arizona sinking, recalls the attack on 'The Story'

Monday marked the 79th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II.

"It is a day that nobody will ever forget, in my memory or anyone who was there," Lou Conter told "The Story" Monday.

The 99-year-old Conter, one of the last two living survivors of the sinking of the USS Arizona, has returned to Hawaii annually to commemorate the attack, but was prevented from doing so this year by the coronavirus pandemic.

"Everyone on the ship served with distinction, because they were highly trained, and I believe that's one of the greatest acts that American sailors and officers of the Navy, the Army, the Air Force at the time could do," he told host Martha MacCallum. "December 7th is a date that will live in infamy."

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FILE - American ships burn during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo. (AP Photo, File)

On that fateful Sunday, Conter, a 20-year-old quartermaster third class was standing in the stern of the ship when a Japanese bomb penetrated the Arizona’s forward turrets, creating a large explosion.

"We took an armor-piercing bomb alongside a number two turret and [it] went through five decks and into the lower handy room where the ammunition for turrets one and two were," he recalled. "A million pounds of [gun]powder blew up."

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Conter said he and the surviving crew members immediately began "pulling men out of the fire and laying [them] on deck because they were burned pretty badly. 

"We only had 50 or 60 motor lines to get them out the hospital," he recalled. "We abandoned ship about 8:35 in the morning and we got them into the hospital and came back and helped fight the fire. The fire was burning until Tuesday [Dec. 9]."

Conter recalled that "everyone on the ship did exactly what they were trained, highly trained, to do, and they served with distinction."

FILE - In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, a small boat rescues a USS West Virginia crew member from the water after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AP Photo/File)

Conter lost 1,177 shipmates in the sinking of the Arizona. In all, 2,403 U.S. servicemen perished that day.

" Pearl Harbor must be remembered as a main holiday in America so it will never happen again," he said. 

Then.President George H.W. Bush, himself a World War II veteran, famously visited the base in 1991 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the attack.

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Conter and his family have returned to the base "practically every year since," he told MacCallum. While he was unable to travel this year, Conter won't let his age stop him from making the trip next year.

"God willing, I will be 100 on Sept. 13th, [and] we will be there next year [for] the 80th anniversary," he said.