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| The Iowa class battleship (above) entered service because the U.S. Navy's battleship fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor. |
In the town of Providence, Rhode Island a few weeks back, on Sept. 27, another piece of American history faded into its storied past when Raymond Haerry, Sr. passed to eternity. He was one of only six remaining survivors from the USS Arizona following the Japanese attack on the morning of Dec, 7, 1941.
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| The attack on Pearl Harbor was the signal for U.S. entry into World War II. |
Reportedly, Mr. Haerry's son, Raymond Haerry, Jr., said his father ran an anti-aircraft gun about the Arizona. However, when he tried to get to ammunition for his station a bomb detonated in the area of his father before he could return fire on marauding planes.
Thrown into the flaming water, Haerry Sr. reportedly returned small arms fire on the aircraft after he swam back to the shore. In all, nearly four-fifths of the crew died on the dreadnought that day: 1,177 service personnel in all.
According to Haerry Jr., his father will rejoin his old shipmates aboard the Arizona, when his ashes are interred aboard her.
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