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Ken Potts, one of last 2 USS Arizona survivors, dies at 102

Richard Cranium

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He was working as a crane operator shuttling supplies to the Arizona the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

20230422-uss-arizona-ken-potts-mc-646p-cc5818.jpg

Former U.S. Navy coxswain Howard "Ken" Potts on Dec. 6, 2016. Lance Cpl. Robert Sweet / U.S. Marine Corps via AP


April 22, 2023


HONOLULU — Ken Potts, one of the last two remaining survivors of the USS Arizona battleship, which sank during the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 102.

Howard Kenton Potts died Friday at the home in Provo, Utah, that he shared with his wife of 66 years, according to Randy Stratton, whose late father, Donald Stratton, was Potts’ Arizona shipmate and close friend.

Stratton said Potts' mind sound but lately he was having a hard time getting out of bed. When Stratton spoke to Potts on his birthday, April 15, he was happy to have made it to 102.

“But 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.
Potts was born and raised in Honey Bend, Illinois, and enlisted in the Navy in 1939.

He was working as a crane operator shuttling supplies to the Arizona the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, according to a 2021 article by the Utah National Guard.

In a 2020 oral history interview with the American Veterans Center, Potts said a loudspeaker ordered sailors back to their ships so he got on a boat.

“When I got back to Pearl Harbor, the whole harbor was afire,” He said in the interview. “The oil had leaked out and caught on fire and was burning.”

Dozens of ships sank, capsized or were damaged in the bombing of the Hawaii naval base, which catapulted the U.S. into World War II.

Sailors were tossed or forced to jump into the oily muck below, and Potts and his fellow sailors pulled some to safety in their boat.

The Arizona sank just nine minutes after being bombed, and its 1,177 dead account for nearly half the servicemen killed in the attack. Today the battleship still sits where it sank eight decades ago, with more than 900 dead entombed inside.

Potts recalled decades later that some people were still giving orders in the midst of the attack but there was also a lot of chaos. He carried his memories of the attack over the course of his long life.

“Even after I got out of the Navy, out in the open, and heard a siren, I’d shake,” he said.

Stratton noted that the only remaining survivor from the Arizona is now Lou Conter, who is 101 and living in California.

“This is history. It’s going away,” Stratton said, adding: “And once (Conter is) gone, who tells all their stories?”

Several dozen Arizona survivors have had their ashes interred on the sunken battleship so they could join their shipmates, but Potts didn’t want that, according to Stratton.
“He said he got off once, he’s not going to go back on board again,” he said.

Stratton said many Arizona survivors shared a similar dry sense of humor. That included his own father, who was severely burned in the attack and also did not want to return to the ship as ashes in an urn.

Potts is survived by his wife, Doris. Information on other survivors was not immediately available.




 
R.I.P. ... We need look no further to find a true hero. Of a generation the likes of which this country, indeed this world, may never see again.
 
Wow, 102 and may he rest in peace!

“Even after I got out of the Navy, out in the open, and heard a siren, I’d shake,”

Never got like that working in the refinery but you never knew when something was going to go wrong and burst out into flames and it happened more often than it should have. Kinda know a bit about what he felt like whenever he heard a siren go off. Always had 2nd thoughts about going back out there for the traditional holiday dinners in the Central Shop (we called it the old farts dinner when we were still out there working) and finally some higher up decided the retired people didn't need to be coming out there anymore so now we have our Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner away from the plant.
 
Rest in peace!
 
RIP Mr. Potts. you've earned it
 
A salute for this man is needed. RIP a real hero.
 
Unfortunately the last of what Cronkite called "America's greatest generation." are leaving our world. And going home. What made that generation great? They were far more selfless than any of us. They cared about their neighbors. They didn't beat their chests screaming "We are the greatest." And didn't scare so easily. A humility that we sometimes lack today.

RIP
 
Rest in peace, Sir. You, along with all the other sailors/soldiers in Pearl Harbor that fateful day are indeed true hero's!

I remember seeing some old grainy film footage of one of the wounded battleships struggling to get out of the harbor, in the background you could hear the men cheering it on while being fired upon. That is the American fighting spirit that I love so much!! God bless all who served and serve!

U.S.A born and raised and proud of it!
 
We honor our Shipmate Ken Potts as we toll the bell to mark the end of his final watch.

Well done Ken Potts, well done. It was a great voyage, and you served your watch. We are proud to have served with you as part of the United States Navy

You have completed your final watch, now rest in peace.
 
He was working as a crane operator shuttling supplies to the Arizona the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

View attachment 1454437
Former U.S. Navy coxswain Howard "Ken" Potts on Dec. 6, 2016. Lance Cpl. Robert Sweet / U.S. Marine Corps via AP


April 22, 2023


HONOLULU — Ken Potts, one of the last two remaining survivors of the USS Arizona battleship, which sank during the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 102.

Howard Kenton Potts died Friday at the home in Provo, Utah, that he shared with his wife of 66 years, according to Randy Stratton, whose late father, Donald Stratton, was Potts’ Arizona shipmate and close friend.

Stratton said Potts' mind sound but lately he was having a hard time getting out of bed. When Stratton spoke to Potts on his birthday, April 15, he was happy to have made it to 102.

“But 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.
Potts was born and raised in Honey Bend, Illinois, and enlisted in the Navy in 1939.

He was working as a crane operator shuttling supplies to the Arizona the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, according to a 2021 article by the Utah National Guard.

In a 2020 oral history interview with the American Veterans Center, Potts said a loudspeaker ordered sailors back to their ships so he got on a boat.

“When I got back to Pearl Harbor, the whole harbor was afire,” He said in the interview. “The oil had leaked out and caught on fire and was burning.”

Dozens of ships sank, capsized or were damaged in the bombing of the Hawaii naval base, which catapulted the U.S. into World War II.

Sailors were tossed or forced to jump into the oily muck below, and Potts and his fellow sailors pulled some to safety in their boat.

The Arizona sank just nine minutes after being bombed, and its 1,177 dead account for nearly half the servicemen killed in the attack. Today the battleship still sits where it sank eight decades ago, with more than 900 dead entombed inside.

Potts recalled decades later that some people were still giving orders in the midst of the attack but there was also a lot of chaos. He carried his memories of the attack over the course of his long life.

“Even after I got out of the Navy, out in the open, and heard a siren, I’d shake,” he said.

Stratton noted that the only remaining survivor from the Arizona is now Lou Conter, who is 101 and living in California.

“This is history. It’s going away,” Stratton said, adding: “And once (Conter is) gone, who tells all their stories?”

Several dozen Arizona survivors have had their ashes interred on the sunken battleship so they could join their shipmates, but Potts didn’t want that, according to Stratton.
“He said he got off once, he’s not going to go back on board again,” he said.

Stratton said many Arizona survivors shared a similar dry sense of humor. That included his own father, who was severely burned in the attack and also did not want to return to the ship as ashes in an urn.

Potts is survived by his wife, Doris. Information on other survivors was not immediately available.




Truly amazing. The sacrifices.
To live all these years for those who's
lives and voices were cut short.
The greatest generation.
My flag flies proudly in your honor.
RC....Thanks for posting.
 
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