Pearl Harbor veteran Donald Stratton dies at 97

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Donald Stratton, a U.S. Navy veteran who survived the attack on the USS Arizona during Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, died Saturday at his home in Colorado Springs at 97.

Stratton was one of the last three living survivors from the Pearl Harbor attack that led the United States into World War II. Lou Conter, 98, of Grass Valley, Calif., and Ken Potts, 98, of Provo, Utah remain.

Stratton, who will be buried at the family plot in his home town of Red Cloud, Neb., was with his wife, Velma, and son Randy when he died.

"One of Donald's final wishes was that people remember Pearl Harbor and the men aboard the USS Arizona," a Facebook post connected to Stratton's family said. "Share their story and never forget those who gave all for our great country."

Stratton said he was aboard the USS Arizona that day by happenstance. The attack killed 1,177 sailors and Marines. Stratton was burned over two-thirds of his body but recovered from his injuries.

Stratton wrote about his experiences in his memoir All the Gallant Men, which detailed not only his recovery but return to the Navy to fight in the rest of World War II.

He said he and a small group of sailors were rescued off the burning Arizona by another sailor in a nearby repair boat who tossed them a rope.