Charleston County Public Library

All the gallant men, an American sailor's firsthand account of Pearl Harbor, Donald Stratton with Ken Gire

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-287) and index

autobiography

illustrations

index present

non fiction

All the gallant men

bibliography

957642534

Donald Stratton with Ken Gire

an American sailor's firsthand account of Pearl Harbor

The first memoir published by a survivor of the USS Arizona and perhaps the most extraordinary account ever to emerge from the Pearl Harbor attack: 94-year old Donald Stratton's moment-by-moment account of survival on December 7, 1941, and his inspiring return to the fight With an unforgettable narrative arc encompassing tragedy, heroism, resilience, and redemption, here is an enduring document of American history -- the only memoir published by a survivor of the USS Arizona, the battleship that bore the brunt of the shocking Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Seaman Donald Stratton ran to his battle station at the start of the Japanese bombing; burned over 65% of his body when the Arizona exploded, he miraculously survived by traversing a rope across yards of burning water. After a grueling year recuperating in a military hospital, Stratton remarkably rejoined the Navy and fought at Okinawa and Iwo Jima, helping bring a victorious conclusion to a war that began in infamy at Pearl Harbor. Today he is 94 years old and active, one of only seven living survivors of the USS Arizona tragedy. On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, the battleship USS Arizona was moored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The harbor was calm, the mood, leisurely. Onboard the Arizona was nineteen year-old Seaman First Class Donald Stratton, who had joined the US Navy the previous year seeking to escape his Depression-ravaged town of Red Cloud, Nebraska. At 7:55 a.m., shortly after Don had eaten breakfast, the serenity of that morning was broken by the drone of Japanese Zeros swooping down from the sky. Torpedoes slammed into the hulls of the ships, machine guns splintered the decks, and bombs rained terror all around them. The Arizona was the first battleship targeted in a massive surprise attack by the Empire of Japan; 353 imperial war planes now swarmed Pearl Harbor, bent on crippling America's Pacific Fleet. Don raced to his battle station amid the chaos. Barely 15 minutes into the attack, an 1,800 pound, armor-piercing bomb penetrated the deck of the Arizona. When the weapon exploded, it set off a million pounds of munitions, along with 180,000 gallons of fuel. The force lifted the massive battleship out of the water, causing the forward deck to buckle, engulfing the ship in an enormous fireball that shot 500 feet into the air and tore through the anti-aircraft director where Don and his team were. The men stumbled from the enclosure, coughing out the acrid smoke that filled their lungs; their clothes, hair, and skin burned off of them. Miraculously the desperate men got the attention of a sailor on a neighboring ship, the Vestal, who heroically stood by and threw a line that Don tied to the burning-hot railing. The rope spanned 70 feet and stretched 45 feet above the flaming, oil-slicked water below. One by one, the six injured men forehanded themselves to safety on the deck of the Vestal. They had survived, but 1,177 of their Arizona crewmates perished that day -- more than half the American casualty total of the Pearl Harbor attack, the shocking tragedy that drew America into the greatest armed conflict in human history. Don was later taken to the naval hospital on Oahu, a hellish chaos of charred skin, mangled limbs, and screams for help. A team of doctors immediately went to work on him, peeling off the dead skin and covering the raw tissue with gauze. Later he was transferred to stateside, where he spent a year recovering in a hospital. His progress was agonizingly slow. Doctors wanted to amputate his left arm, but he refused to let them. Slowly the scars healed, but he had to learn to walk all over again. When well enough to leave the hospital, the Navy discharged him from service due to his injuries. But Don felt he belonged in the Pacific, taking the fight to the enemy. Though the Navy was reluctant, it finally allowed him to re-enlist. On one condition: that he go through basic training again. Passing every test, he was assigned to be a gunner's mate on the destroyer USS Stack, where he saw action at the invasion of New Guinea and later at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Now 94 years old and living in Colorado Springs, Donald Stratton tells his stunning personal story in never-before-told detail-a must read for fans of Unbroken and The Boys in the Boat., Provided by publisher