The United States flag and Hawaii state flag will be flown at half-staff at the State Capitol, all state offices and the Hawaii National Guard to honor Lou Conter, the last living survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that sank during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
The order is in effect from sunrise on Wednesday, April 3 through sunset Friday, April 5.
Conter died on Monday at age 102.
In the 1941 attack, 1,177 sailors and Marines died on the Arizona. Conter was a quartermaster, standing on the main deck of the Arizona as Japanese planes flew overhead in the morning of Dec. 7, according to reporting from the Associated Press and Spectrum News. He recalled in a 2008 interview how one bomb penetrated steel decks and set off more than 1 million pounds of gunpowder stored below. The explosion lifted the battleship 30 to 40 feet out of the water.
“Guys were running out of the fire and trying to jump over the sides,” Conter said. “Oil all over the sea was burning.”
He joined other survivors in helping the injured, who were blinded and badly hurt, he wrote in his autobiography. The sailors only abandoned the ship when their senior surviving officer was sure they had rescued all those still alive.
The wreckage of the Arizona still lies where it sank. More than 900 sailors and Marines remain entombed inside. Only 335 Arizona crew members survived.
After Pearl Harbor, Conter went to flight school, 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.
In 1943, he and his crew were shot down in waters near New Guinea and had to avoid sharks. A sailor expressed doubt they would survive, to which 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. They were quiet and treaded water until hours later when another plane came and dropped them a lifeboat.
To honor Conter, the flags will be lowered from sunrise Wednesday until sunset Friday.
“Lou Conter is one of the greatest examples of 'the Greatest Generation,'” said Green in the news release. “After surviving the Pearl Harbor attack, he not only stayed in the Navy, but he went to flight school and ultimately flew some 200 combat missions, including getting shot down while contributing to the rescue of his ‘Black Cats’ squadron near New Guinea. We are forever grateful to Lou and all those who served aboard the USS Arizona and on all of the other ships in Pearl Harbor on that fateful day. Hawaii and America salute their service and their memory."
With Conter's death, there are now 19 survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack still living.