Lou Conter, the last survivor of the USS Arizona in the attack on Pearl Harbor, dies at 102

Lou Conter, the last survivor of the USS Arizona that Japan sank in the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Monday at age 102. In almost 30 years of military career, he became lieutenant commander. He later wrote a biography remembering the event that took the lives of 1,177 sailors and infantrymen, in addition to triggering the United States' entry into World War II.

The news was confirmed by his daughter, Louann Daley, who confirmed that her father passed away in California due to congestive heart failure.

Hours after the information was confirmed, the Arizona Senate held a moment of silence in honor of Conter, remembering his years of service and legacy.

Conter retired in 1967 after 28 years in the Navy and since then became a fundamental part of the ceremonies honoring the victims of Pearl Harbor. When his physique no longer allowed him to attend in person, he recorded messages from his home in California. "It's always good to come back and pay respect to them and give them the top honors that they deserve," he noted years ago.

He always rejected the label of hero, arguing that it belongs to those who lost their lives on December 7. "The 2,403 men that died are the heroes. And we've got to honor them ahead of everybody else. And I've said that every time, and I think it should be stressed," he said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2022.

The memory of the attack on Pearl Harbor

At the time of the Japanese attack on the USS Arizona, a barely 20-year-old Conter was walking along the main deck. After about 12 minutes of battle, a bomb penetrated the ship's decks and detonated more than 1 million pounds of gunpowder that was stored below. The explosion was so large that it lifted the ship about 40 feet above water.

"Guys were running out of the fire and trying to jump over the sides. Oil all over the sea was burning," the man recalled years later.

In his autobiography, published in 2021 on his 100th birthday, Conter recounts how he joined the few hundred survivors to assist the wounded and that they only abandoned the ship when the superior officer knew that everyone still alive had been rescued.