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"Sailors share memories of time aboard USS Arizona"

- Dec. 7, 2009 12:00 AM
Cronkite News Service

John Anderson remembers rowing into the burning water around the USS Arizona, searching in vain for a twin brother later found among the battleship's nearly 1,200 dead in the Pearl Harbor attack. But he also has fond memories of his time on the Arizona, such as attending navigation and meteorology classes with shipmates.

Donald Stratton, who left the Arizona's flaming wreck with two-thirds of his body burned, remembers boxing matches his fellow sailors held next to a trash incinerator below deck.

The Arizona had seen more than 20 years of service by Dec. 7, 1941. On the anniversary of that day of infamy, most remember the ship's death and not its life. But even though the battleship's career before the war wasn't one of glamour and glory, it still holds happy memories for three survivors interviewed by Cronkite News Service.

"The Arizona was, to me, home," said Anderson, a Roswell, N.M., resident who as of early December was one of 21 Arizona survivors still alive. "The guys that you served with ... were all decent guys and friendly fellows, just like a neighborhood high-school football team. They worked together, tried together and, in our case on the Arizona, a lot of them died together."

The third U.S. warship to bear the name Arizona, following a steamer used during the Civil War and a frigate that launched in 1865, the Pennsylvania-class battleship was one of the largest of its day: more than 600 feet long, weighing 31,400 tons and bristling with 44 guns, including 12 huge cannons mounted on four turrets.

A delegation led by Arizona Gov. George W.P. Hunt traveled by rail to Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City for the ship's launch on June 19, 1915. Hunt selected Esther Ross, the 17-year-old daughter of a Prescott pharmacist, to christen the ship.

The Arizona didn't see action in World War I when commissioned Oct. 17, 1916, because it was so state of the art: Rather than coal, it burned oil, which was scarce across the Atlantic with the British navy fully engaged.

Then came years of peacetime duty and the Great Depression, which limited military operations.

"It was a training vehicle," said Luke Bate, education curator at the Arizona Capitol Museum. "The ship was fairly inactive."

In the months and days leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, life on the Arizona, like that of most naval ships was dominated by routine, the three survivors said.

"The first thing you'd do in the morning would be to go up on deck and clean it," said Milton Hurst, who was in a crew manning one of the battleship's turrets.

Hurst recalled testing the guns, playing on the Arizona's baseball team, being just another sailor.

"I don't have any great sea stories to tell, but I guess it did for me what needed to be done to me," he said. "I was just an old farm boy - hell, I had absolutely zero sophistication. All I knew was work."

"I enjoyed it," Stratton said . "After all was said and done ... after I got squared away and made a few friends aboard, and the routine was settled down, everything was kind of kosher."

Marshall Trimble, Arizona's official historian, said scandal shattered the Arizona's routine in 1924, when news broke that a prostitute named Madeline Blair had stowed away on the ship during a cruise, paying the ship's cook for meals and doing business with sailors.

"It was the most action the ship saw until Dec. 7, 1941," Trimble said.

The scandal resulted in courts-marshal for 23 sailors, and one was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

"They got after the sailors more than they did her," Trimble said. "I couldn't believe that. I thought that was an awful stiff penalty for what they did."

The Arizona's lasting legacy, of course, is as a reminder of America's determination to prevail after Pearl Harbor and as a tomb for many of those killed there, Trimble said.

"That battleship became a symbol of a sneak attack, of being unprepared - being caught with our proverbial pants down," he said. "I think the Arizona stands for that as a symbol of vigilance in a mean world." "

During my visit to the Arizona Memorial I witnessed something that still sticks in my mind. It is one of those memories that are as fresh today as it was when I witnessed it.

As we waited for our van to take us on our trip to Pearl Harbor there were bus loads of Japanese tourists leaving our hotel. When we finally arrived at Pearl Harbor, those same busses were in the parking lot.

After seeing the presentation about the harbor and the attack we are told how to conduct ourselves at the memorial. Then we headed out to the memorial on small boats. There were already some people on the memorial already. They were mainly Japanese tourists. Every one of them had taken lei’s with them. Each one would stand at the base of the flag staff and toss their lei on the water.

NOBODY talked while on the memorial. You could see the Arizona and the oil leaking from her. I still find that experience moving and almost able to bring a tear to my eye.

Over the years I have had the honor to speak with several different Pearl Harbor survivors. Two of these men were stationed on the USS Nevada. All of them were sprised when I gave them a salute. They all said the same thing, "I was just doing my job."

Those are my memories of the USS Arizona.