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One of the Last Survivors of Attack on USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor Dies

Friday, October 7, 2016 12:26 pm | < 1 Minute Read

The battleship USS Arizona topples over into the sea during Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. The ship sank with more than 80 percent of its 1,500-man crew. (AP Photo) — The battleship USS Arizona topples over into the sea during the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. (AP Photo)

Raymond Haerry, one of the last living crew members on the USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has died at 94.

Haerry’s son, Raymond Jr., said that his father died on Sept. 27 in Rhode Island. He was one of six remaining Arizona survivors.

The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner, File) — The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)

Raymond Jr. told The Associated Press on Friday that his father ran to an anti-aircraft gun on Dec. 7, 1941, but the ammunition was in storage. He tried to get ammunition, but a large bomb detonated first. Haerry swam through flaming waters to shore and shot at Japanese planes from there.

The ship lost 1,177 men, nearly four-fifths of its crew.

Haerry Jr. said that when he can afford it, he’ll take his father’s ashes to be interred on the Arizona.

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