Last Survivor of USS Arizona Attack Goes to His Reward

HONOLULU (AP) — The last living survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that exploded and sank during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor has died. Lou Conter was 102. 

Conter passed away at his home Monday in Grass Valley, California following congestive heart failure, his daughter, Louann Daley said.

The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines in the 1941 attack that launched the United States into World War II. The battleship’s dead account for nearly half of those killed in the bombing. 

Conter was a quartermaster, standing on the main deck of the Arizona as Japanese planes flew overhead at 7:55 a.m. on Dec. 7 that year. Sailors were just beginning to hoist colors or raise the flag when the assault began.

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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.

Louis Anthony Conter. Retired US Navy Lieutenant Commander.

September 13, 1921 - April 1, 2024. The last survivor of the USS Arizona. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⚓️ pic.twitter.com/0txgZ1BIGd

— USS Arizona (@USSArizona) April 1, 2024