RIP Lieutenant Commander Lou Conter

[SoCalDave]

Last survivor of the USS Arizona has passed away at age 102.

Louis Anthony Conter (September 13, 1921 – April 1, 2024) was a retired Lieutenant Commander and Naval Aviator in the United States Navy and, at the time of his death, was the last living survivor of the sinking of the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

 

[Romans9]

RIP

I lost a friend about 15 years ago that served in WW2. He was a great man, very humble and gracious, Vic Powers.
I watched him progress through dementia and it was painful.

I hope this man had a great life in the years he had lived since the war.
Seeing pictures of men like this when they were young is spectacular. To imagine what was going through their mind at the time is mesmerizing.
I always ask and compare what were they thinking verse what reality was for them. You would be surprised how many had a very good view on life and being content in every circumstance.

 

[SoCalDave]

RIP

I lost a friend about 15 years ago that served in WW2. He was a great man, very humble and gracious, Vic Powers.
I watched him progress through dementia and it was painful.

I hope this man had a great life in the years he had lived since the war.
Seeing pictures of men like this when they were young is spectacular. To imagine what was going through their mind at the time is mesmerizing.
I always ask and compare what were they thinking verse what reality was for them. You would be surprised how many had a very good view on life and being content in every circumstance.

In an interview with CBS in 2022. Sounds like he aged well to remember the details of that day.

GRASS VALLEY — On this 81st year since the attack on Pearl Harbor, there are two living survivors of the USS Arizona that sunk in the bombing that day.

One of them lives in Grass Valley and is now 101 years old.

Lou Conter spoke with CBS13 from his living room and described his vivid memories of that day that lives in infamy.

"Minute it happened, we sounded general quarters and they were in there and we blew up in about eight minutes, nine minutes," Conter said.

More than eight decades later, Conter can still describe, without hesitation, being on board the USS Arizona in that fateful moment that is seared into American history: the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

"Thirty-five, 40 minutes after that, we were pulling bodies out of the fire and laying them down and getting them ready to go to the hospital," Conter said.

He was 20 years old at the time.

There were 2,403 Americans killed in the attack, including many of Conter's shipmates on the Arizona. He said, through it all, he learned a valuable lesson about living through a crisis.

"You never, never panic, in any serious situation," Conter said. "If you panic, you're dead."

 

[timstoy]

True American hero! Thank you for your service and Godspeed!

 

[OLDRAAT]

He probably ran into the late Chuck Yeager while in the Grass Valley area.
RIP Commander.

 

[rivermobster]

Wow.

Seriously makes you think how lucky some of us are.

Thank you for your service brave men.

 

[HST4ME]

Salute.

 

[4Waters]

RIP, thank you for your service, you are again with your brothers aboard the USS Arizona

 

[RichL]

RIP Sir.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

I’ve heard of Arizona survivors getting interred at the memorial in Pearl. It would be fitting to have him back with his shipmates.

 

[Ducksquasher]

RIP...God Bless.

 

[Eliminator21vdrive]

RIP and thank you for your service.