The final veteran to be interred in the sunken USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor will be taken to the ship this weekend.
Lauren Bruner, who died at 98, was one of 335 sailors and Marines to survive the Japanese attack on the Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941, and will be the 44th and final veteran to be interred in the wreckage. The attack claimed the lives of 1,177 on the Arizona alone, which sunk nine minutes after being bombed. The remains of more than 900 killed on the Arizona that day were never recovered and remain sealed in the destroyed battleship.
A memorial to the lives lost on the Arizona now sits above the wreckage, where visitors can pay their respects and learn more about the catastrophic attack. Divers will take Bruner’s ashes to the ship as his loved ones give him a final tribute this weekend, which also marks the 78th anniversary of the attack. He will also receive a gun salute, and his family will be given an American flag.
The final three surviving veterans from the Arizona have chosen to be interred with family. The last veteran to be taken to his final resting place on the ship was Joseph Langdell, whose ashes were taken to the ship in 2015. “It’s emotional. It’s reverent. And it makes me think not just of him but of the other people,” said Langdell’s son Ted. “It’s hard to imagine that all of the sudden, all of these people are gone.”
While living, Bruner spoke to school groups about his experience on the day of the attack which claimed the lives of more than 2,300 in total. “It wasn’t about him,” Bruner’s friend Ed Hoeschen said. “It was about [people] meeting a member of the USS Arizona. And that’s what he wanted people to remember. Just remember the men of the Arizona.”
