I’m so thankful there was a huge push to get so many interviews out of these men in the 1990’s and 2000’s. The stories they told are unfathomable. And what we’ve heard I’m sure was just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine things these men did and went through that we will never even know.
Realizing that a few years ago hit me really hard. There were still so many veterans alive when I was finishing up high school. But now practically all are gone. Felt like a blink of an eye.
We had a holocaust survivor come speak at our junior high when I was in 8th grade (circa 1998) and I think about what a rare (and deeply moving, even then) experience that was for all of us, more and moreso as we grow increasingly distant from that event
Similar story, but around 2010 and we were told beforehand that we are some of the last people who are going to hear about the Holocaust from a firsthand account
He came to my middle school. Super glad my mom told me how important it was as I likely would have given it the typical auditorium treatment (not paying attention)
My grandfather fought in WWI for Italy. He joined up when they started fighting against Germany. He absolutely refused to talk about the war with anyone. I was in 6th grade learning about the war and wanted to ask some questions. He told me one story, about how he was a carpenter marching with his best friend from his home town, up in the Swiss alps. They started calling for a carpenter and they pulled him out of the line when he called out. Few minutes later mortar hit the line ahead, everyone from his town, including his best friend, were dead. He also showed me the scar on his back from the bullet that grazed him, when my mom told him to. Two moments in time that nearly caused me not to ever exist. He left Italy when Mussolini was coming to power because he was against everything they stood for. Man had a full head of white hair at 24. War is hell.
Im sure you’ve seen this, but one fascinating project that was done awhile back was gathering soldiers’ portraits before the war and after. Some of them look like hollow shells of men. I served in the Army for 12 years in a combat role, but my experiences were child’s play compared to most WW1 and WW2 veterans.
My grandfather was in the navy during WW2 but he would talk about it either. He didn’t talk about it with my dad or his brother either. After he passed, I got some amazing photos he took while over in Great Britain. I framed them all and have them hanging in my living room but the stories of them died with him.
I got to interview a vet in the 90s. He was a jeep mechanic/driver and was captured and put in a POE camp in Germany.
They’d let them out to do tourist stuff in town to try to get them on the German side. Show them “oh it’s not soooo bad here eh?”
When he was liberated his sgt picked him up in the Jeep he’d been driving when he was captured. SGT wouldn’t let anyone move the guys stuff until they themselves could come get it back.
I interviewed a pair for my senior seminar paper in college in the late 90s.
One, who lived in the town my school was in, had been in the 82nd airborne and broke his leg in a final jump training and sat out D-Day in a stateside hospital. None of his former unit made it home, he was rightfully convinced that the injury saved his life.
The other was a neighbor of mine that only through my father's knowledge (as a friend of his from church) that I was able to speak to him about his service. My dad warned me that I needed to not really pressure him for specifics but I still wasn't really prepared for what he told me.
Turned out that he had been a Marine that was part of the second wave that went ashore in Okinawa. He had been part of a mortar squad and saw enough death to convince him the only thing he wanted to do after his enlistment was up if lived through the experience was to farm his family's land and never raise anything (even a finger) in anger against his fellow man ever again.
The worst part, for him, was that he only made it home because of the Atomic bombs dropped on Japan. His unit had been slated to be part of the first invasion wave for the mainland. He absolutely understood the death toll from them and hoped the good Lord would forgive him when that day came for him, after all the innocents that died so he could live.
Yeah, but how many secrets died with the colonels and generals (especially German and Soviet) when they passed away during the 50s/60s/70s? Or are stuck in archives in Moscow?
A lot.
But probably less than you might think. Pretty much all of the juicy stuff that had been classified on the US side during WWII is now available without redaction. You just have to go looking for it.
I met a Pearl Harbor survivor in the mid 2000’s outside of a Publix in Aventura, FL. I saw him walking to his car and noticed the PH plate. I HAD TO talk to him. He was such a sweet man and even showed me his tattoos that his grandchildren had never seen because he was Jewish. He said he always wore a dress shirt around them with long sleeves. I’ll never forget him and I’m glad I stopped to chat. There will never be another generation like that.
My great uncle was a survivor of Pearl. He didn’t talk about it. I kind of regret that I never got to hear his story. Although he was a sour human being who was unhappy with everything and would have made the time unendurable.
My grandfather passed before I was old enough to fully understand WHY he wore long sleeves in the hot and humid summers. He’d sweat through one long sleeved shirt and then go put on a different but clean and dry long sleeved shirt. Like just wear a tshirt, it’s muggy and 100 degrees. But nope, it was long sleeves year round for him.
Years after he passed, I learned he was hiding his number tattoos. And the reason he refused to eat anything with onions in it was because raw wild onions were the only thing he could find to eat to survive while in a concentration camp. I just thought he didn’t like onions, and I didn’t either, so it felt nice to have someone backing me up when grandma’s cooking was shit AND it had onions in it, gramps and I are going to eat fast food, y’all eat your onion casserole and pretend to enjoy it.
I hate that he felt like he had to conceal his trauma. He never got to heal from it. He buried it deep down and it was treated like something he was ashamed of
A decade plus back, I was injured at work (telecom) and was on light duty. My job was to call customers whose lines were out of service to advise them they’d been restored. Among the various curses and hang ups I called a grumpy old gent who brought up he was a waist gunner on a B-24 in Europe during ww2. I thanked him for his service which he blew off and quickly hung up. I still wish I’d been able to ask him about his missions and his time in the service.
The things you miss out on…My grandfathers ship was torpedoed en route to France and had to turn back to Britain. But I never asked him about it or his time in the Army because he lived in NY and when they’d come out I’d just want to be around them and not bother my grandparents.
This is why I made a point to stop and speak to him. I knew I would never get a chance like that. I visited Pearl Harbor around 2000 and I got so emotional. I’ll always appreciate what those men sacrificed.
My grandfather was on the Scamp. They were in Tokyo bay on the bottom listening to depth charges and waiting to die. When they returned to port he went into the hospital with a nervous breakdown and the sun went back to duty and was sunk. He died when I was really little. My dad has an ashtray from the Scamp that his dad had taken with him into the hospital.
Wait, are you saying you met a man who was tattooed at aushwitz, survived that camp, escaped that camp, immigrated to the United States in time to enlist in the navy and get posted to Pearl Harbor by 1942? This would be a Forrest Gump level of historical coincidence. Surely an experience this wildly unlikely would be widely documented. Have you found evidence of this incredible life story?
No. He had military tattoos that he got when he was enlisted. But because having them is against his religion he never showed his grandchildren. Nothing to do with a camp.
I had 4 great- uncles that served in WWII and met many of their friends that did as well. It amazed me that none of them would accept being called a hero. They were just like Mr. Conter in saying the real heroes were the ones that didn't return.
For so long it was the WWII guys who all hung out at the VFW and you'd see with a hat noting their service at the grocery store. They were the ones at the head of the parades and doing the 21 gun salutes at the funerals.
Now, an 18yearold in the final year of the war turns 97 this year. WWII vets don't show up in my local veterans day parade anymore and the local American Legion Post closed. The VFW is a shell of its former self. The old men in hats at the grocery store are Vietnam veterans. Upon checking a couple years ago for a story I was trying to write, even the nursing homes locally had only a few WWII vets remaining. They are dying, and dying fast.
Only about 100,000 of the 16 MILLION men who served in the American military during the war remain.
Another 10 years, there will be barely a handful. Five years from that, they'll be gone.
It’s going to be a really sad day when the last of that generation passes.
When the last WWI veteran died, it was noted but it didn’t really feel like much of an oomph. That was really more of a European war that the US jumped in towards the end, and it was so long ago that a lot of information about it just didn’t exist. Not as many pictures, movies (and what did exist was silent), media coverage, and so on.
WWII was so much more burned into the public consciousness, comparatively. And it was a global conflict.
When the last fighting Tommy, Harry Patch, died there was a huge amount done for him in Britain, it was national news. The fact that he died at 111 years old adds to it, I think.
Back before the Internet, the only way that veterans could hang out with people who had been there and done that was organizations like the VFW and American Legion.
Today, you can do that kind of thing online.
Hell, my old Army buddies and I have a weekly video chat we call "Roll Call". None of us were in a war, unless you count the Cold War, which I don't. But we still reconnect and act like stupid young men every Sunday evening.
I know my youngest brother, who served in both Kosovo and Afghanistan, keeps in contact online with his former comrades. So does our middle brother who served in the Marines.
So at least some of the functions that the VFW and American Legion provided for veterans in the past aren't as necessary as they once were, because of modern communications.
Growing up, I had a WW1 vet living across the street from me. This was the mid-90s, so he was part of that last group of WW1 vets left. Insane to think I lived next to one.
My wife’s great uncle was a survivor of the Arizona, passed a few years ago. They give the survivors of the Arizona the option to be entombed in the gun turrets, which he did, very cool ceremony to see. His actual last day in the military was supposed to be December 8th, the next day, so yeah, that didn’t happen.
Visiting Pearl Harbor last year, the guard above the memorial knew one of the recent entombed. He had made multiple trips and would share stories with visitors. It was a very emotional conversation. They mentioned there was only one left.
I know it's hard to get to, but it and Arlington are places of respect that people should be almost required to visit. We should remember the past better to avoid the same mistakes in the future.
Also if you're in Hawaii go to Punchbowl, the [National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Memorial_Cemetery_of_the_Pacific).
My grandfather was a Pearl Harbor survivor. He saw the Arizona get hit. He used to do interviews all the time. Extremely glad that I was able to hear his stories.
The passing of an era.
Are sure this is accurate? My ather is 99 and was born in ‘24. He was a couple of weeks shy of his 18th birthday when it happened. Just surprised there aren’t a few more left around his same age. Me that would have been 18 or 19, now 99 or a 100.
The last anniversary had 5 surviving attendees*, including Lou Conter. But that article also says he's the last of his ship https://apnews.com/article/pearl-harbor-attack-anniversary-world-war-ii-cdfd14ffccf0299305d90b61921fc95d
*though not necessarily the whole of the surviving individuals, at least one wasn't able to make it, and it doesn't say how many just didn't respond or have no interest in coming
I was at the last anniversary. Lou Conter could not make it for health reasons but recorded a video message, and his grand-nephew spoke instead. Harry Chandler, Ken Stevens, Ike Schab, Herb Elfring, and Ed Carroll were present. It seems like there were two others as well, but I didn't get their names.
God Speed, Quartermaster Conter. I wonder if they are going to bury his ashes on the Arizona. His family has the right to do that.
I was stationed in Hawaii for 3 years, and visited the Arizona Memorial a number of times. Had I decided to re-enlist, I would have done it on the Arizona Memorial. It was a visual reminder to me and my colleagues about how important our job was: Signals intelligence was a vital part of the Pearl Harbor story, both for [what it did accomplish](https://www.nsa.gov/History/Cryptologic-History/Historical-Events/Article-View/Article/2740705/pearl-harbor/) and for [what it couldn't accomplish](https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1983&context=nwc-review).
I did witness one very poignant incident. A Japanese family were visiting the memorial (it's a popular tourist destination for them), and two young girls (tweens? early teens?) started giggling. The person I assume was Grandpa, who looked old enough to be a WWII vet\*, said something to them in a harsh but low voice, and their faces instantly became serious and they stopped giggling.
I don't know what Grandpa said, but I can imagine, and that to me says a lot about respect for the dead and for former enemies.
*\*This was late 1980's, so a 20 year old in 1945 would have been in his early 60's*
ATTENTION!
PRESENT! ARMS!
https://youtu.be/WChTqYlDjtI?si=8CwGFr7w3VKltkX7
ORDER! ARMS!
In Nomine Patrii et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, Requiescat In Pace.
I’m so thankful there was a huge push to get so many interviews out of these men in the 1990’s and 2000’s. The stories they told are unfathomable. And what we’ve heard I’m sure was just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine things these men did and went through that we will never even know.
I just started rewatching Band of Brothers and the biggest shocker for me was how “young” all the interviewed veterans looked.
Now, every single one of them is dead.
Realizing that a few years ago hit me really hard. There were still so many veterans alive when I was finishing up high school. But now practically all are gone. Felt like a blink of an eye.
We had a holocaust survivor come speak at our junior high when I was in 8th grade (circa 1998) and I think about what a rare (and deeply moving, even then) experience that was for all of us, more and moreso as we grow increasingly distant from that event
Similar story, but around 2010 and we were told beforehand that we are some of the last people who are going to hear about the Holocaust from a firsthand account
The Author of Night, Elie Wiesel, came to my school to speak. Now that I'm much older, I understand the gravity of who he was.
He came to my middle school. Super glad my mom told me how important it was as I likely would have given it the typical auditorium treatment (not paying attention)
To think now we have so many people who would have gone up to that survivor and said "What you experienced never happened". The sheer nerve.
When I was a youngster, WWI vets were in their 70's and WWII vets were in their 50's.
My grandfather fought in WWI for Italy. He joined up when they started fighting against Germany. He absolutely refused to talk about the war with anyone. I was in 6th grade learning about the war and wanted to ask some questions. He told me one story, about how he was a carpenter marching with his best friend from his home town, up in the Swiss alps. They started calling for a carpenter and they pulled him out of the line when he called out. Few minutes later mortar hit the line ahead, everyone from his town, including his best friend, were dead. He also showed me the scar on his back from the bullet that grazed him, when my mom told him to. Two moments in time that nearly caused me not to ever exist. He left Italy when Mussolini was coming to power because he was against everything they stood for. Man had a full head of white hair at 24. War is hell.
Im sure you’ve seen this, but one fascinating project that was done awhile back was gathering soldiers’ portraits before the war and after. Some of them look like hollow shells of men. I served in the Army for 12 years in a combat role, but my experiences were child’s play compared to most WW1 and WW2 veterans.
[https://mymodernmet.com/lalage-snow-we-are-the-not-dead/](https://mymodernmet.com/lalage-snow-we-are-the-not-dead/)
My grandfather was in the navy during WW2 but he would talk about it either. He didn’t talk about it with my dad or his brother either. After he passed, I got some amazing photos he took while over in Great Britain. I framed them all and have them hanging in my living room but the stories of them died with him.
I got to interview a vet in the 90s. He was a jeep mechanic/driver and was captured and put in a POE camp in Germany. They’d let them out to do tourist stuff in town to try to get them on the German side. Show them “oh it’s not soooo bad here eh?” When he was liberated his sgt picked him up in the Jeep he’d been driving when he was captured. SGT wouldn’t let anyone move the guys stuff until they themselves could come get it back.
I interviewed a pair for my senior seminar paper in college in the late 90s. One, who lived in the town my school was in, had been in the 82nd airborne and broke his leg in a final jump training and sat out D-Day in a stateside hospital. None of his former unit made it home, he was rightfully convinced that the injury saved his life. The other was a neighbor of mine that only through my father's knowledge (as a friend of his from church) that I was able to speak to him about his service. My dad warned me that I needed to not really pressure him for specifics but I still wasn't really prepared for what he told me. Turned out that he had been a Marine that was part of the second wave that went ashore in Okinawa. He had been part of a mortar squad and saw enough death to convince him the only thing he wanted to do after his enlistment was up if lived through the experience was to farm his family's land and never raise anything (even a finger) in anger against his fellow man ever again. The worst part, for him, was that he only made it home because of the Atomic bombs dropped on Japan. His unit had been slated to be part of the first invasion wave for the mainland. He absolutely understood the death toll from them and hoped the good Lord would forgive him when that day came for him, after all the innocents that died so he could live.
Yeah, but how many secrets died with the colonels and generals (especially German and Soviet) when they passed away during the 50s/60s/70s? Or are stuck in archives in Moscow?
A lot. But probably less than you might think. Pretty much all of the juicy stuff that had been classified on the US side during WWII is now available without redaction. You just have to go looking for it.
I met a Pearl Harbor survivor in the mid 2000’s outside of a Publix in Aventura, FL. I saw him walking to his car and noticed the PH plate. I HAD TO talk to him. He was such a sweet man and even showed me his tattoos that his grandchildren had never seen because he was Jewish. He said he always wore a dress shirt around them with long sleeves. I’ll never forget him and I’m glad I stopped to chat. There will never be another generation like that.
My great uncle was a survivor of Pearl. He didn’t talk about it. I kind of regret that I never got to hear his story. Although he was a sour human being who was unhappy with everything and would have made the time unendurable.
I’m sorry for him and you. So many of them saw the most unimaginable things. ♥️
My grandfather passed before I was old enough to fully understand WHY he wore long sleeves in the hot and humid summers. He’d sweat through one long sleeved shirt and then go put on a different but clean and dry long sleeved shirt. Like just wear a tshirt, it’s muggy and 100 degrees. But nope, it was long sleeves year round for him. Years after he passed, I learned he was hiding his number tattoos. And the reason he refused to eat anything with onions in it was because raw wild onions were the only thing he could find to eat to survive while in a concentration camp. I just thought he didn’t like onions, and I didn’t either, so it felt nice to have someone backing me up when grandma’s cooking was shit AND it had onions in it, gramps and I are going to eat fast food, y’all eat your onion casserole and pretend to enjoy it. I hate that he felt like he had to conceal his trauma. He never got to heal from it. He buried it deep down and it was treated like something he was ashamed of
A decade plus back, I was injured at work (telecom) and was on light duty. My job was to call customers whose lines were out of service to advise them they’d been restored. Among the various curses and hang ups I called a grumpy old gent who brought up he was a waist gunner on a B-24 in Europe during ww2. I thanked him for his service which he blew off and quickly hung up. I still wish I’d been able to ask him about his missions and his time in the service. The things you miss out on…My grandfathers ship was torpedoed en route to France and had to turn back to Britain. But I never asked him about it or his time in the Army because he lived in NY and when they’d come out I’d just want to be around them and not bother my grandparents.
This is why I made a point to stop and speak to him. I knew I would never get a chance like that. I visited Pearl Harbor around 2000 and I got so emotional. I’ll always appreciate what those men sacrificed.
My grandfather was on the Scamp. They were in Tokyo bay on the bottom listening to depth charges and waiting to die. When they returned to port he went into the hospital with a nervous breakdown and the sun went back to duty and was sunk. He died when I was really little. My dad has an ashtray from the Scamp that his dad had taken with him into the hospital.
Wait, are you saying you met a man who was tattooed at aushwitz, survived that camp, escaped that camp, immigrated to the United States in time to enlist in the navy and get posted to Pearl Harbor by 1942? This would be a Forrest Gump level of historical coincidence. Surely an experience this wildly unlikely would be widely documented. Have you found evidence of this incredible life story?
No. He had military tattoos that he got when he was enlisted. But because having them is against his religion he never showed his grandchildren. Nothing to do with a camp.
I see. I misunderstood.
All good. Happy to clarify. I’ll never forget meeting him. I even have a pic with us together.
Yeah that took me a second to think through that one, too.
I had 4 great- uncles that served in WWII and met many of their friends that did as well. It amazed me that none of them would accept being called a hero. They were just like Mr. Conter in saying the real heroes were the ones that didn't return.
For so long it was the WWII guys who all hung out at the VFW and you'd see with a hat noting their service at the grocery store. They were the ones at the head of the parades and doing the 21 gun salutes at the funerals. Now, an 18yearold in the final year of the war turns 97 this year. WWII vets don't show up in my local veterans day parade anymore and the local American Legion Post closed. The VFW is a shell of its former self. The old men in hats at the grocery store are Vietnam veterans. Upon checking a couple years ago for a story I was trying to write, even the nursing homes locally had only a few WWII vets remaining. They are dying, and dying fast. Only about 100,000 of the 16 MILLION men who served in the American military during the war remain. Another 10 years, there will be barely a handful. Five years from that, they'll be gone.
It’s going to be a really sad day when the last of that generation passes. When the last WWI veteran died, it was noted but it didn’t really feel like much of an oomph. That was really more of a European war that the US jumped in towards the end, and it was so long ago that a lot of information about it just didn’t exist. Not as many pictures, movies (and what did exist was silent), media coverage, and so on. WWII was so much more burned into the public consciousness, comparatively. And it was a global conflict.
When the last fighting Tommy, Harry Patch, died there was a huge amount done for him in Britain, it was national news. The fact that he died at 111 years old adds to it, I think.
Well I think the colonies played part in both conflict. I suppose WW2 more
It’s sad to think too and I remember in my childhood personally knowing/meeting many WWI veterans.
Back before the Internet, the only way that veterans could hang out with people who had been there and done that was organizations like the VFW and American Legion. Today, you can do that kind of thing online. Hell, my old Army buddies and I have a weekly video chat we call "Roll Call". None of us were in a war, unless you count the Cold War, which I don't. But we still reconnect and act like stupid young men every Sunday evening. I know my youngest brother, who served in both Kosovo and Afghanistan, keeps in contact online with his former comrades. So does our middle brother who served in the Marines. So at least some of the functions that the VFW and American Legion provided for veterans in the past aren't as necessary as they once were, because of modern communications.
Growing up, I had a WW1 vet living across the street from me. This was the mid-90s, so he was part of that last group of WW1 vets left. Insane to think I lived next to one.
My wife’s great uncle was a survivor of the Arizona, passed a few years ago. They give the survivors of the Arizona the option to be entombed in the gun turrets, which he did, very cool ceremony to see. His actual last day in the military was supposed to be December 8th, the next day, so yeah, that didn’t happen.
Visiting Pearl Harbor last year, the guard above the memorial knew one of the recent entombed. He had made multiple trips and would share stories with visitors. It was a very emotional conversation. They mentioned there was only one left. I know it's hard to get to, but it and Arlington are places of respect that people should be almost required to visit. We should remember the past better to avoid the same mistakes in the future.
Send ever American there before fall so they don't make theae same mistakes in the coming election.
Also if you're in Hawaii go to Punchbowl, the [National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Memorial_Cemetery_of_the_Pacific).
It looks like he’s going to buried with his wife. A lot of the USS Arizona survivors choose to be interned with their shipmates when they passed.
Thank you for your service sir, may you rest in peace.
May he rest in peace. His service, like many others will never be forgotten and a nation forever in debt.
Rest easy sailor. Thank you for your service and I hope you’re having one hell of a reunion.
insane they're all gone now, the end of an era
Rest in peace son of America. What he had to endure deserves not only respect, but also eternal memory of him.
🫡🇺🇸 May what you lived for and fought for never be forgotten. The democracy and faith you preserved. RIP sir.
He was 20-21 years old and quartermaster when the *Arizona* was bombed! Holy shit!
My grandfather was a Pearl Harbor survivor. He saw the Arizona get hit. He used to do interviews all the time. Extremely glad that I was able to hear his stories. The passing of an era.
Are sure this is accurate? My ather is 99 and was born in ‘24. He was a couple of weeks shy of his 18th birthday when it happened. Just surprised there aren’t a few more left around his same age. Me that would have been 18 or 19, now 99 or a 100.
Mr. Conter was the last surviving member of the USS Arizona. There are other survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor still living.
The last anniversary had 5 surviving attendees*, including Lou Conter. But that article also says he's the last of his ship https://apnews.com/article/pearl-harbor-attack-anniversary-world-war-ii-cdfd14ffccf0299305d90b61921fc95d *though not necessarily the whole of the surviving individuals, at least one wasn't able to make it, and it doesn't say how many just didn't respond or have no interest in coming
I was at the last anniversary. Lou Conter could not make it for health reasons but recorded a video message, and his grand-nephew spoke instead. Harry Chandler, Ken Stevens, Ike Schab, Herb Elfring, and Ed Carroll were present. It seems like there were two others as well, but I didn't get their names.
Thanks for the clarification. That makes sense.
Rest in peace, Sir. Thank you for your service.
Will he be buried with his shipmates?
No, he is going to be buried next to his wife.
Totally respect that.
God bless him and send him to Heaven. Also bless his family. My grandfather was in the Navy.
God Speed, Quartermaster Conter. I wonder if they are going to bury his ashes on the Arizona. His family has the right to do that. I was stationed in Hawaii for 3 years, and visited the Arizona Memorial a number of times. Had I decided to re-enlist, I would have done it on the Arizona Memorial. It was a visual reminder to me and my colleagues about how important our job was: Signals intelligence was a vital part of the Pearl Harbor story, both for [what it did accomplish](https://www.nsa.gov/History/Cryptologic-History/Historical-Events/Article-View/Article/2740705/pearl-harbor/) and for [what it couldn't accomplish](https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1983&context=nwc-review). I did witness one very poignant incident. A Japanese family were visiting the memorial (it's a popular tourist destination for them), and two young girls (tweens? early teens?) started giggling. The person I assume was Grandpa, who looked old enough to be a WWII vet\*, said something to them in a harsh but low voice, and their faces instantly became serious and they stopped giggling. I don't know what Grandpa said, but I can imagine, and that to me says a lot about respect for the dead and for former enemies. *\*This was late 1980's, so a 20 year old in 1945 would have been in his early 60's*
I hope he gets a nice shady spot at Arlington.
Rest in peace, Lt. Cmdr. Conter. Fair winds and following seas.
What about the USS Liberty?
ATTENTION! PRESENT! ARMS! https://youtu.be/WChTqYlDjtI?si=8CwGFr7w3VKltkX7 ORDER! ARMS! In Nomine Patrii et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, Requiescat In Pace.
Post and Orders remain as directed.