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I was very fortunate to have met and talked with Pearl Harbor survivor, Lauren Bruner 10 years ago in California. He was the second to the last person to leave the USS Arizona before it sank.
I was mesmerized listening to him tell his story. All I could think was, they don’t make men like this anymore.
Although shot in the leg and burned over 70% of his body during the attack, he soon got back on a warship and got back into the war. He was tough and full of grit.
Although shot in the leg and burned over 70% of his body during the attack, he soon got back on a warship and got back into the war. He was tough and full of grit.
He died Sept. 10 2019, at the age of 98.
On Dec. 7, 2019, Navy divers took Lauren home, placing his ashes inside the well of gun turret four, on the USS Arizona, where it rests at the bottom of the harbor, now part of the USS Arizona Memorial, his final resting place.
On Dec. 7, 2019, Navy divers took Lauren home, placing his ashes inside the well of gun turret four, on the USS Arizona, where it rests at the bottom of the harbor, now part of the USS Arizona Memorial, his final resting place.
He is expected to be the final USS Arizona survivor to be interred on the sunken warship.
His memoir, “Second to the Last to Leave USS Arizona”, is the best and most detailed account of the attack on Pearl Harbor that I have ever read.
I remember with incredible gratefulness the one piece of advice he offered during our conversation. “Don’t let the past dictate your future”. It was a piece of advice he lived fully after Pearl Harbor.
