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Midweek Edition-December 7-8,2022
ForsythNews.com | FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS | 5A
Arizona survivor: Honor
those killed at Pearl Harbor
By AUDREY McAVOY
and HAVEN DALEY
Associated Press
HONOLULU — USS
Arizona sailor Lou Conter
lived through the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor even
though his battleship
exploded and sank after
being pierced by aerial
bombs.
That makes the now
101-year-old somewhat of
a celebrity, especially on
the anniversary of the Dec.
7, 1941, assault. Many call
him and others in the
nation’s dwindling pool of
Pearl Harbor survivors
heroes.
Conter rejects the char
acterization.
“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 said in a recent
interview at his Grass
Valley, California, home
north of Sacramento.
On Wednesday, the U.S.
Navy and the National Park
Service will host a remem
brance ceremony at Pearl
Harbor in honor of those
killed.
Last year about 30 survi
vors and some 100 other
veterans of the war made
the pilgrimage to the annu
al event. But the U.S. Navy
and the National Park
Service anticipate only one
or two survivors will likely
attend in person this year.
Another 20 to 30 veterans
of World War II are also
expected to be there.
Conter won’t be among
them. He attended for
many years, most recently
in 2019. But his doctor has
told him the five-hour
flight, plus hours of waiting
at airports, is too strenuous
for him now.
“I’m going on 102 now.
It’s kind of hard to mess
around,” Conter said.
Instead he plans to watch
a video feed of this year’s
81st anniversary obser
vance from home. He’s
also recorded a message
that will be played for
those attending.
Corner’s autobiography
“The Lou Conter Story”
recounts how one of the
Japanese bombs penetrated
five steel decks on the
Arizona and ignited over 1
million pounds of gunpow
der and thousands of
pounds of ammunition.
“The ship was consumed
in a giant fireball that
looked as if it engulfed
everything from the main
mast forward,” he wrote.
He joined other survivors
in tending to the injured,
many of whom were blind
ed and badly burned. The
sailors only abandoned ship
when their senior surviving
officer was sure they had
rescued all those still alive.
The Arizona’s 1,177
dead account for nearly
half the servicemen killed
in the bombing. The battle
ship today sits where it
sank 81 years ago, with
more than 900 of its dead
still entombed inside.
Conter wasn’t injured at
Pearl Harbor, during World
War II or the Korean War.
This year’s remembrance
ceremony is the first to be
open to the public since the
2019. The pandemic forced
the adoption of strict public
health measures for the last
two years.
David Kilton, the
National Park Service’s
chief of interpretation for
Pearl Harbor, said he’s not
sure how many people will
attend but they’re anticipat
ing between 2,000 and
3,000 people.
It will be held at the
Pearl Harbor National
Memorial visitors center
which overlooks the water
and the white structure
built to honor those killed
on the Arizona.
Organizers have set a
theme of “Everlasting
Legacy” for this year’s cer
emony, highlighting how
fewer and fewer survivors
remain.
“We honestly have to
know and be prepared that
eventually we won’t have
the ability to connect with
their stories and have them
with us anymore,” Kilton
said. “And it’s hard to to
come to grips with that
reality.”
Conter went to flight
school after Pearl Harbor,
earning his wings to fly
PBY patrol bombers, which
the Navy used to look for
submarines and bomb
enemy targets. He flew 200
combat missions in the
Pacific with a “Black Cats”
squadron, which conducted
dive bombing at night in
planes painted black.
One night in 1943 he and
his crew had to avoid a
dozen or so nearby sharks
after they were shot down
near New Guinea.
When one sailor
expressed doubt they
would survive, Conter
responded “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. They were
quiet and treaded water
until another plane came
and dropped them a life
boat hours later.
In the late 1950s, he was
made the Navy’s first
SERE officer — which is
an acronym for survival,
evasion, resistance and
escape. He spent the next
decade training Navy pilots
and crew on how to survive
if they’re shot down in the
jungle and captured as a
prisoner of war. Some of
his pupils used his instruc
tion to live through years as
POWs in Vietnam.
ACROSS
1 Singer Lovett
5 "Ben-Hur"
studio
8 Beanies
12 "Madam
Secretary"
actress
14 Opposite of
"sans"
15 Very hungry
16 Gambling city
17 Coq au -
18 Painter
Georges
20 Watched sur
reptitiously
23 Pot covers
24 Any time now
25 Stuffed Italian
pasta
28 Boy king
29 Doctrine
30 NYPD alert
32 Gulches
34 Potter's medi
um
35 New newts
36 Tint
37 Import duty
40 JFK info
41 Portent
42 Enraptured
47 Theater award
48 Eternally
49 Variety
50 Still, in verse
King Crossword
51 Playwright 10
O'Casey
DOWN
1
USPS delivery
11
2
Pro vote
13
3
Restroom, for
19
short
20
4
Football team
21
5
Earth circler
22
6
Bearded
23
beast
7
Written mes
25
sages
8
Tenor Enrico
26
9
Say it's so
Elizabeth 27 Apple tablet
of "Jacob's 29 Squabble
Ladder" 31 "See ya!"
Highlander 33 Like marble
Oklahoma city 34 Great divides
Redact 36 Commotion
Retired jet 37 Grabbed
Serve coffee 38 Both (Pref.)
Greek vowel 39 Check
Highway divi- 40 Divisible by
sions two
Cheap way to 43 St. crasser
live 44 Weed whacker
Chorus sylla- 45 Notable time
bles 46 Lair
© 2022 King Features Synd., Inc.
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