Leeann Tweeden Instagram – One of the things we definitely wanted to do in Hawaii was take the kids to see the USS Arizona Memorial. It is something the kids could see with their own eyes and pay their respects to the 2,341 service members that were killed on December 7, 1941. About half of those who were killed that day were on the Arizona.
The United States was a neutral country at the time. But the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese led to our formal entry into WWII the next day.
This memorial is treated with the utmost respect as the final resting place of so many. If you survived that day, you could choose to be interred back with your crew mates after you die.
Lauren Bruner, the second to last Sailor to escape the USS Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941, was interred among the ship’s wreckage during a sunset ceremony held on the memorial, Dec 7, 2019.
The 98-year-old former fire controlman died Sept. 10, 2019, in California. Bruner’s passing left only three surviving crewmembers who were aboard the Arizona that fateful day: Don Stratton, 97 (who died in 2020) Lou Conter, 98, and Ken Potts, 98.
As of Feb. 2018, 43 USS Arizona Survivors had been interred within the ship, nestled on the sea floor of Pearl Harbor. Bruner makes the 44th and final. The remaining survivors intend to be buried with their families.
On a side note, we were told by one of the volunteer guides that one of the two civilians who contributed money to finish the memorial was Elvis Presley! He didn’t want the Navy or the government to acknowledge it…he just wanted to do his part to pay his respects to the fallen. | Posted on 09/Apr/2023 09:24:55
