HONOLULU (AP) — Lou Conter, the last living survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that exploded and sank during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, has died.
His daughter says he passed away Monday at age 102 at his home in Grass Valley, California.
The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack that launched the U.S. into World War II. Conter was standing on the Arizona's main deck as Japanese planes flew overhead and then helped many of the wounded.
He went on to fly 200 wartime combat missions in the Pacific. Though many treated Pearl Harbor survivors as heroes, Conter refused that label. He said those who died were the heroes.
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