Pearl Harbor Veteran To Be Interred On Sunken Ship

It was an attack that shaped history, leaving more than 2,400 Americans dead and forcing the United States to enter a war it had been reluctant to join

Los Angeles, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Dec, 2019 ) :It was an attack that shaped history, leaving more than 2,400 Americans dead and forcing the United States to enter a war it had been reluctant to join.

On Saturday, the 78th anniversary of the 1941 sneak attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, the remains of one of the survivors of the assault will be interred on his sunken ship, the USS Arizona.

Lauren Bruner, who was among the last sailors rescued from the Arizona as it exploded into flames and sank, died in September at age 98.

He had expressed in years past his wish to be buried alongside fellow sailors who died on that fateful day.

"It's a historical event and this is the last surviving crewman of the USS Arizona being returned to his ship and his shipmates," Pearl Harbor National Memorial spokesman Jay Blount told AFP.

Bruner will be the 44th USS Arizona survivor interred on the ship. The remaining three living sailors who survived the attack have asked to be laid to rest with their families.

One of them, 98-year-old Lou Conter, will be attending Saturday's memorial at the USS Arizona Memorial Park in Hawaii, alongside some 120 members of Bruner's family.

Following the late-afternoon ceremony, National Park Service and military divers will take the urn containing Bruner's ashes and lower it to his final resting place in the hull of the ship's wreckage, Blount said.

- 'Glad to see them' -