did sharks eat pearl harbor victims

Since the 1920s . "They tried to jump off. "It is only by the grace of God that I stand here today," he said. Except the cap. "He was very military by then, very disciplined.". He liked the idea of working as an aircraft mechanic, so he volunteered. I had one pair of dungarees and that was it, that and a towel and shaving gear.". Bass. The sea turned rough, tossing the ship with 40-foot swells, bouncing the vessel like a rubber ball in a washing machine. He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in February 1954, the rank he held until he retired. He visited the memorial and was relieved to see the builders got it right. The family visited the Arizona memorial and toured other sites near the harbor. Some even like to dine on smaller shark species! 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. Once a week, they motor on into Tulsa, where Marietta takes a china painting class and Lonnie wanders the aisles of sporting-goods stores. On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Harold, 24, was on deck of the Oklahoma while William, 23, was working below, according to their family. "We worked with a crane barge capable of lifting 700 tons," he sys. Thickets of tangled shrubs and rows of trees are visible from his window. No sharks did not eat Titanic passengers. His mother had moved to Decatur, Ill., by then, so he followed and took a job at a hardware store. Cook enlisted in the Navy in 1940 and was assigned to the USS Arizona, one of the largest battleships in the fleet with a crew that, at full complement, numbered more than 1,500. "They were holed up behind sandbags, but they never got hit.". "They paid me by the day," he said. "He told you the story?" One of the first people to do that.". "To see the people I knew back in those days," he says. did sharks eat pearl harbor victimsi miss you text art copy and paste. But he is proud of his service, of the other sailors on the Arizona. I even had a couple of dates with girls.". "We won't get in," Conter said. There were: Cook and another crewman. It took Ray Jr. years, decades to piece together his father's story. In his dining room in Colorado Springs, he keeps a replica of a hard diving helmet, the kind his divers used. Octopus. John was sent from training camp in Illinois to Bremerton, Wash. They continued to see each other and, when Langdell left for Hawaii, they corresponded, often. @webtv.net wrote in message. Haerry accepts the chocolate bars his son has brought him. Langdell lives now in a skilled nursing center. "I'm planning to marry your wife's sister, but I've got to have somebody take my place at work. Crippled ships still floated around the mooring posts along Ford Island. Cook worked in California, mostly welding jobs, until the union he belonged to called a strike. is clu gulager still alive did sharks attack titanic survivors. USS Indianapolis at Mare Island. So he did. "It sounded like someone shooting guns. did sharks eat pearl harbor victims. At 100, he is the oldest. "Lou, let's go to flight school," Conter's buddy said one day. His wife, Libby, who died two years ago. Three days later, he and his buddy were on a ship to San Francisco and then a train to Pensacola. It was as if he had none. An avocado tree grows in the backyard. No one among the groups knew where he was or what he was doing, but the woman persisted. He joined the USS Arizona Reunion Association and stays in touch with a few of the remaining survivors. "Cut!" On a recent fall afternoon, Stratton ambles down the driveway and fires up the engine. "One of the last ones" He talks about going aboard the Frazier. As each name was read, Rhode Island National Guard Maj. Gen. Kevin McBride presented the man with the Rhode Island Star, one of the state's highest military honors. "I would tell them. And it holds deep meaning for Potts, even though he did nothing to win it. Each of the six men were at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese planes swarmed the Navy fleet in an ambush that would provoke war. 4. I couldn't.". She tracked him to the Los Angeles area, then started a phone search. By the end of the day, had persuaded Anderson to sign up for the Navy Reserve. Among his responsibilities was overseeing the naval officers' clubs in the area. They bought a small ranch and, while Lonnie continued to work welding jobs, they grew walnuts, almonds, peaches, apples, nectarines, cherries and grapes. "The new ones, they didn't know beans.". "I got the lay a wreath in front of the names of the fallen," he says quietly. If they found anything that belonged to the Navy or hadn't been approved, they'd take it. He and Libby moved west to Walnut Creek east of San Francisco. Today, the population can almost reach 1,500 when everyone is home. He points out the cranes and the locations along the ship where he would tie up the motor boats he piloted to fetch supplies and ferry sailors to and from shore. "He saved six people's lives. Stratton could not. After so many years of travel, the Cooks have settled into a more tranquil pace. The new shoes he left on the deck of the sinking ship, the ones he intended to retrieve later. Late in the year, after an overhaul in San Francisco, the Coghlan returned to patrol duty off the Aleutians with a half dozen other U.S. vessels. Oceanic whitetip sharks killed many of the surviving crew in the biggest attack on humans ever recorded Credit: Getty - Contributor. December 5, 2021 at 11:21 a.m. EST. It is respectful. He worked on board as a mechanic for a torpedo squadron and ended up in charge of the hydraulic shop. A tale of war and romance mixed in with history. Whale sharks are found in warm waters in the Pacific . The story follows two lifelong friends and a beautiful nurse who are caught up in the horror of an infamous Sunday morning in 1941. 2023 www.azcentral.com. He needed a truck to carry equipment back and forth, so he scouted out a car lot and bought a 1965 Chevrolet pickup. This list and the accompanying graphics do not include encounters in which a shark does not actually bite a person or board (e.g. He said he wanted Anderson to join the on-air staff. Using its sonar equipment, the ship fired depth charges and eventually sank the enemy submarine. "He was out to sea nine months out of the year, only home for three months," Ray Jr. says. "It's hard to explain." The tanker towed them to Adak, Alaska, and from there, another ship took the crippled destroyer to San Francisco for repairs. She prods him to move around more and to leave the room for meals. Haerry says he wants lunch delivered to his room, but the nurse says no. By Michael E. Ruane. Once, I made a dive in a two-man submarine, down in over 1,200 feet of water off Santa Barbara coast. After the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the United States opted to construct a naval base in 1899. He returns his attention to the cranes and the catapults that flung the seaplanes into flight. But there are moments when he knows what he did meant something. When the regular stuntmen returned and the studio cut loose the subs, Ladd hired some of them to work on his house in the Holmby Hills above Los Angeles. Conter's plane hadn't been out long in September 1943 when enemy bullets pierced one of their rear hatches and hit a parachute flare. The fireball from the explosion engulfed the six men in the box and trapped them. "I'd do it a hundred times more," he says. It took more courage on your part to present this wreath than it did for me to accept it.". Their skin charred and falling off, the men crawled down the line to the Vestal. BuzzFeed News Photo Editor. A while back, Stratton and his wife Velma retired to Yuma and lived there about 15 years. The countries of Japan and The United States had been at odds for several decades before the attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. Toward the end the war, Langdell was stationed in the Philippines, at a base in Manila. Hetrick slept on the battleship USS Tennessee, which had been moored just ahead of the Arizona along Ford Island. For Hetrick, the section of mooring line links him to those final moments of the Arizona. You don't fire guns in port, so I ran out real quick to see what was happening. "We're were out and around. The telegram, which misspelled Conter's last name, promises further information and asks his family not to divulge Conter's posting. Hetrick, who is 91, has outlived most of the men he knew on the Saratoga. He wanted one last unforgettable day. For a long time, he didn't think he would ever return to Pearl Harbor. He decided to head back to the water. "Mr. Langdell," he said, "when you're done with your breakfast, you'll report to the pier and you'll be met by a motor whale boat and a party of 20 enlisted men with sheets and pillow cases. Whale sharks can grow to 65 feet in length and weigh up to 75,000 pounds. His ships steamed across the Pacific, through the Panama Canal to Africa. Williams was in the Arizona's band. He helped rescue some of his shipmates. "We would go in with a landing party or we furnished artillery for the landing force. After the war, he worked as a stuntman for Orson Welles and John Wayne and helped build Alan Ladd's house in the hills outside Hollywood. But he kept most of it to himself until he started meeting up with other survivors, years after he retired from the military. "I just got discharged. For some reason I had always thought that the titanic had gone down way farther North. In 1940, Anderson reported to the Arizona once more, joining his brother for the first time since they had enlisted. "I ain't seen 'em since.". "I decided I'd do whatever they told me to. I think it was one of the proudest days of my father's life.". They offered to perform at a gathering of Utah survivors. "In the service, if you didn't use nasty words, you weren't a good sailor.". June 12, 2022 June 12, 2022 0 Comments June 12, 2022 0 Comments They spoil their granddaughters and can now move on to a new great-granddaughter. The day after, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared it "a date which will live in infamy," and Congress . He was cut loose in San Francisco and returned to Los Angeles, where he had married a girl back in late 1942. He thinks back. The nurse who checks in on him regularly likes Haerry. what is florentine milan straw. They said, 'You should have been dead a long time ago.'". Haerry felt the entire ship life out of the water. In Alaska, he helped set up platforms that could keep up with tides that rose and fell as much as 32 feet. north but again I'm not a shark expert. "They were very good days before the war. His name was Cactus Jack and to his fans in southeastern New Mexico, he was the dulcet-voiced host of Sagebrush Serenade, a program of country music on KSWS radio. These Photos Of The Pearl Harbor Attack Are Still Shocking Decades Later "A day that will live in infamy." By . Aviators most often arose from left-arm rates. "I canned 500 quarts of fruit one year," Marietta says. "Why do you like the hat, dad?" In 2006, Langdell walked along the steep shoreline of Ford Island, the Arizona memorial in the background. "I got another ship for you," the officer said at last. His own battle station was beneath the gun turret shattered by the last bomb to hit the Arizona. The ship provided fire support for the Marines going ashore. For Haerry, McBride had a the state's highest military honor, the Rhode Island Cross. "They played country music because the people here loved that," Anderson says. He left home at 5 every morning and took a ferry from Jamestown to the Navy base. "What are you looking at?" Their ordeal . Sea turtles. He will meet three other survivors in Hawaii for their last reunion. When the fourth bomb detonated in the powder magazine, anyone left was blown over the side. Bruner thought it an odd request. "The sea was real rough when it came in and the sharks started gathering around. He was on his own once again, he and his young family. He and his father chat a little. Before the attack, many Americans were reluctant to become involved in the war in Europe. Hetrick thought about it. The bomb that shattered the Arizona's bow exploded as Cook and the others climbed out of the turret. I said, 'You send her over, I'll re-enlist.' Or both. One day, he stopped for coffee at the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood. Salvage work would begin soon on others. Over the next year, Anderson would sail across the South Pacific, joining other ships in the American assault on the Marshall Islands, Parry Island and the Palau Islands. The crew was evacuated and another U.S. destroyer scuttled the Lexington to keep the Japanese from capturing her. What they didn't count on was the side-street parking. Among those killed were over 1,700 aboard the USS Arizona, 103 . "We didn't hear much from the outside at first," Hetrick said. 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.". He had visited before, but this trip meant more. He says that decision was the best thing he could have done. As they walked toward it, Langdell reeled at an odor. 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. Rays. No one seemed to be in charge on Ford Island, where Cook had spent the night. Helpless, I watched your bomb sink the Arizona in nine minutes.". "We'd send two guys out to knock the icicles off the guns, then they'd high-tail it back in. Tensions between Japan and the U.S. simmered throughout the early 20th century and came to a boil in the 1930s as Japan attempted to conquer China, even . The job paid $700. We had survival training on the job. The report: Oh, yes, she can cook. Before the war started, a hospital stay that long would have earned a sailor a discharge, but not anymore. He doesn't need to say which Saturday night by now. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Hetrick turns a rusted chunk of metal over in his hands, running his fingers along the curves and edges. Here is a story he will tell, a memory he will keep. He stayed there for months. Conter told the admiral he was interested in flight school, but doubted he would earn admission. he said. Kitchen patrol. The story of the USS Indianapolis has become legendary with regards to shark attacks, and is known as the worst shark attack in recorded history. The offshore diving business could leave its own kind of scars. When he first arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hetrick wasn't even old enough to buy a beer until he found a place where they didn't ask questions if a guy was in a service uniform. Naming Pearl Harbor. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. queensland figure skating. ", "You will go to the Arizona and you will take off all the bodies and body parts above the water line," the man said. Just another site did sharks eat pearl harbor victims Japanese torpedo bombers hit the Lexington and crippled the big ship. As the USS Arizona burned and sunk into the harbor, Stratton and five other men had been trapped on an anti-aircraft gun control platform on the ship's foremast, burned in a fireball when below-deck ammunition exploded. He agreed to play it on his show. As the ships turned around, a squadron of enemy bombers appeared. As they talked, Ray mentioned that his dad had been aboard the Arizona. Cook made it to his battle station on Dec. 7, 1941, but the Arizona was moored in a cramped harbor and couldn't have fired the big guns even in a prolonged assault. "I never talked about it much then," he says. A moment passes. They moved to Modesto, Calif., where he got a job driving a produce truck in the fruit orchards. UPDATE:Joe Langdell diedin February 2015, months after this report. Here's what he revealed: The USS Arizona (BB-39) burns after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Whether they're a spiny dogfish all the way to great whites, sharks love eating fish. He is one of nine living survivors of the Arizona and, at 97, he has amassed a lifetime of unforgettable days. The Navy wanted to keep him in Idaho, working with new recruits at a boot camp, but he pushed for a seagoing assignment and wound up on the destroyer USS Stack as a gunner's mate. Redfish. In late 1943, Conter flew a mission to rescue more than 200 coast watchers in New Guinea. "The only people he would talk to were either very close friends or relatives," his son says. Why not try radio? elephant tail jewelry did sharks eat pearl harbor victims. The treaty also gave the US Navy exclusive access to use Pearl Harbor as a coaling and repair station. They will celebrate 65 years of marriage in April. "I said goodbye and left.". He had held on to it through the war. "I went back and told my mother I wasn't going up there anymore," he said. It turned out little was the right word. Keeping the memories alive. "If somebody in authority said do something back then, you didn't question it. Discipline seems less important than it was in his day. Stratton climbed to his feet and, biting back the pain, he stood and when his bed was ready, he collapsed back into it. Did he ever. "We'd patrol at night. He asked if Jeanne could come with him. Clayton Schenkelberg, who was born in 1917 in Iowa and joined the U.S. Navy in 1937, died in a senior care facility April 14 in San Diego. Joe had met Elizabeth McGauhy in Chicago half a decade earlier. He survived, but was burned badly over two-thirds of his body. Soon, he became one of the earliest TV weathermen and an evening fixture in Roswell homes, or at least those with televisions. Or got fired. I don't think sharks go that far. Conter and his buddy waited for new instructions, but heard nothing. Someone from the bureau had been asking questions. Pearl Harbor was a United States Naval base on the island of Oahu, located west of Honolulu. Bruner was the second-to-last man to leave the sinking ship. "Sure, let's see it." Conter got his wings in November 1942. In May 1942, the Aylwin joined a task force in the Coral Sea with the USS Lexington, one of the Navy's early aircraft carriers. He heard the same stories from his grandmother and his aunts. She was attending an art academy to learn dress designing. The mangled bodies such as J.J. Astor was probably caused by the 1st smokestack falling into the water and. I still get to the point when I'm talking about it, first thing you know, I go to bed at night, wake up and can't sleep for a week.". Before the year was out, Cook was sent to gunnery school in Washington, D.C., and to the South Boston Navy Yard, where he joined the new destroyer Pringle on its shakedown cruise. "It ain't worth a damn if it ain't loaded," he says. When Anderson said he was, his old friend was incredulous. "They said what a wonderful place it was to live, with jobs and everything, so I bought a little place up in Spanish Fork," he says, "I'm still looking for that easy money.". But Hetrick couldn't find work, so inside of six months, he signed up for the Navy Reserve. That fateful day led the United States . He likes chocolate and is disappointed if Ray Jr. forgets it. Yes, he'll say, he was on the Arizona and he survived. We can't let it happen again.". The war's over.". By April 1940, the Navy seemed like a good idea and by summer, he was on board the Arizona, stationed at Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Sometimes he can't control his emotions, so he declines speaking requests. When they said, 'grab your sea bags and let's go,' I did.". The exhausted crew dragged ashore an hour later and hid in the jungle, fearful they would be captured by Japanese soldiers. Today, he tries to pass on what he knows to students of history. As the boat heaved, the man with the ax missed and hit Haerry's hand, nearly severing it from his wrist. He had taken a bullet to the back of his leg as he was climbing the tower, but the burns were far worse. The report said most of the guys in the anti-aircraft batteries, where Jake fought, were shot down early in the assault. "That's what I'm catching up now. "She went to California and I followed her," Lonnie says. The six-year Pentagon project identified nearly 400 who died on the USS Oklahoma in 1941. "I said, 'Well, come on, then,'" Marietta says, and in 1950, they wed. That's where the cross-country adventures begin. "We saved people on commercial ships on the seas, we rescued missionaries in the interior of China, we shot up a bunch of pirates," Anderson said. Before the big battleship could leave Puget Sound, Anderson volunteered for another mission, joining the small Asiatic Fleet along the coast of China. In the documentary, "The Life and Death of a Lady," Langdell and Abe speak, side by side on the memorial. Yet in a place where you couldn't cross the street without running into a war vet, Bruner was not just another ex-sailor who made it home. Bruner was at his battle station in an anti-aircraft gun director, a metal box on the forward mast of the Arizona, when an armor-piercing bomb ignited the ship's powder magazine. For over an hour, in two waves, some 350 Japanese aircrafthaving taken off from six . The USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in this December 7, 1941 photo. Until his partner ran off with all the money. Would Langdell agree to meet Abe on film? "It's where the war started.". They were dead in the water.". With a gun, he could defend himself.

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