Pearl Harbor survivor has died at 100 years old. Retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Joseph Langdell was the oldest living crew member of the battleship USS Arizona to have survived the Japanese attack during World War II.
Langdell passed away inside a nursing home in Yuba City, Northern Carolina on Feb. 4, according to Yahoo! News. The USS Arizona Reunion Association, where Langdell had also served as President, has also identified him as the last surviving officer from the naval ship that, unfortunately, lost 1,177 men, which is almost four-fifths of its total crew, when it was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941.
Apparently, he was resting in an on-shore military base in Honolulu, which was adjacent to the Arizona, when the bombs dropped. Hours turned to days as he, along with the others who were able to survive the attack, tried to rescue their shipmates from the burning water amidst preparing themselves for another air assault.
He and his wife, Libby, have two sons, John Mark, a retired Navy Commander, and Ted, who regularly posts about his father on Facebook. He also co-wrote a biography on his father on the official website of the USS Arizona. It was Ted who informed everyone about his father's passing on Feb. 4.
The Pearl Harbor survivor "was 100 years, three months, and 24 days old," he wrote. "A long-time listener to classical music - Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, the 'Eroica,' played him off this life's stage." Ted shared that he was holding his father's hand as his father gave his last breath.
"During his 100 years, Joe Langdell had seen many things and changes," he added. "His skills ranged from the use of wood stoves and outhouses in cold, New Hampshire winters, milking cows in his father's barn, guiding horse-drawn buggies and driving early motor cars, building crystal radio sets, and cranking party-line, operator-connected telephones, to using cell phones, emailing, and surfing the net."
The ashes of the late Retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Joseph Langdell will be interred aboard the Arizona, as reported by Reuters.
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