Remaining USS Arizona Survivors Hold 'Final Toast' to Shipmates

Four of the nine remaining USS Arizona survivors, Donald Stratton, left, Louis Conter, John Anderson, and Lauren Bruner, toast in honor of fallen shipmates and service members of the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Arizona Memorial at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The four Pearl Harbor survivors announced this year's USS Arizona Reunion Association ceremony to be the final of its kind. The final toast symbolizes the brotherhood and sacrifice of the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor 73 years ago. More than 2,500 guests, including Pearl Harbor survivors and other veterans, attended the National Park Service and U.S. Navy-hosted joint memorial ceremony at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Johans Chavarro/Released)

Remaining USS Arizona Survivors Hold 'Final Toast' to Shipmates

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Kelvin Andrews, assigned to the 14th Coast Guard District, Louis Conter, a survivor of the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Audrey Leong, a student at the Navy Hale Keiki School, and Kary Goetz, a National Park Service ranger, present a wreath during the 73rd anniversary Pearl Harbor Day commemoration ceremony at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center. More than 2,000 guests, including Pearl Harbor survivors and other veterans, attended the National Park Service and U.S. Navy hosted joint memorial ceremony at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. This year's theme focused on "Preserving the Memory." (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Laurie Dexter/Released)

Remaining USS Arizona Survivors Hold 'Final Toast' to Shipmates

Vistors enter the USS Arizona Memorial during the 73rd anniversary Pearl Harbor Day commemoration ceremony at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center. More than 2,000 guests, including Pearl Harbor survivors and other veterans, attended the National Park Service and U.S. Navy hosted joint memorial ceremony at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. This year's theme focused on "Preserving the Memory." (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Laurie Dexter/Released)

Remaining USS Arizona Survivors Hold 'Final Toast' to Shipmates

Published Dec. 8, 2014
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Diana Quinlan
Navy Public Affairs Support Element West Detachment Hawaii

PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- On the afternoon of Dec. 7, four of the nine remaining USS Arizona survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack - John Anderson, Lauren Bruner, Louis Conter and Donald Stratton - arrived to USS Arizona Memorial for their final reunion.

This historic event marked the end of an era for the USS Arizona survivors, all aged in their 90s, who have announced that this was the final, official gathering of the USS Arizona Reunion Association.

Despite the official announcement, the men still plan to get together, regardless of the location.

"I don't think this is going to be our last [meeting]," said Louis Conter, 93. "We still have time to go, so I think we'll be back out here no matter whether the rest of the crowd can make it or not."

While at the memorial, the survivors poured a "final toast" to their shipmates, drinking from original champagne glasses from the USS Arizona. They shared a bottle of wine - a gift from President Gerald Ford to the association presented in 1975. According to survivors, this final salute symbolized the brotherhood and sacrifice of the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor 73 years ago.

After the toast, the survivors handed one of the glasses to a team of Navy and National Park Service divers who placed it at the base of the Arizona's gun turret four. Gun turret four serves as the final resting place for survivors of the attack who wish to have their ashes placed at their former battle station. Since 1980, 38 Arizona survivors have been reunited with their fellow shipmates on the ship.

"The good Lord saved just a few of us," shared Donald Stratton, 92, who was one of the survivors of a gun director in the forward part of the ship and sustained severe burns during the attack, which required hospitalization lasting for more than a year. "So terrible, terrible day," Stratton remembered.

Conter shared his thoughts on the event and the honor he felt to be by his ship, among the fellow Sailors.

"It was amazing for the four of us," said Conter. "I think we all felt the same, an honor to toast the 1,177 shipmates that we had and who died that day. And the glass, which is now interred there [gun turret four], will give us a chance to have something to drink out of when we're buried there."