Ken Potts.Photo: Lance Cpl. Robert Sweet/U.S. Marine Corps via AP
One of the last remaining survivors of the USS Arizona, which sank during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 102.
Ken Potts died on Friday at his home in Utah, Randy Stratton — the son ofDonald Stratton, Potts' crewmate and friend, whodied in 2020— told theAssociated Press.
Stratton told the news agency that Potts celebrated his birthday on April 15, a milestone he was happy to reach.
Although Potts “had all his marbles,” he had been having difficulty getting out of bed. “He knew that his body was kind of shutting down on him, and he was just hoping that he could get better but (it) turned out not,” Stratton said.
US Navy/Interim Archives/Getty
Originally from Honey Bend, Illinois, Potts served in the U.S. Navy from 1939 to 1945.
“I still see and feel it…most times as a nightmare,” he said at the time. “It was unbelievable how it could happen. It was turmoil. The whole place was on fire. The water was burning because the oil was on fire.”
Theattacksleft 2,403 American personnel dead, including 68 civilians, and led to the U.S. formally entering World War II. 1,177 sailors died on the USS Arizona.
In a 2020 interview with theAmericans Veteran Center, Potts said that what happened on that day left a lasting scar.
“For a long time, even after I got out of the Navy, out in the open, and heard a siren, I’d shake,” he said.
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101-year-oldLou Conter, who is currently living in California, is now the only remaining survivor from the USS Arizona, Stratton told the Associated Press.
“This is history. It’s going away,” Stratton told the news agency. “Our job now is to keep their memories alive.”
source: people.com
