the compartment. He was burned as he climbed up the ladders.
Getting through that choking kind of smoke was a real ordeal - the kind of smoke that really hurt your lungs," he said. "After awhile, I began to get weak and lightheaded. I could feel myself losing the battle to save my own life. I hung to the ladder, feeling good. I felt that it was all right for me to let go."
But he looked up and saw a speck of light and he kept climbing.
"After what seemed to me like an eternity, I reached the deck gasping and choking. I lay down for a few moments," he said.
"The warm Hawaiian air filled my lungs and cleared my head. I glanced over to the forward end of the ship to see nothing but a giant wall of flame and smoke. Behind me, a Marine lay dead on the deck, his body split in two. I began to realize there were dead men all around me."
The Arizona was doomed. Phraner abandoned ship, swam to Ford Island and would live to serve on other Navy ships throughout the Pacific War.
The Arizona remains where it sank and its stripped, sunken hull still seeps oil even after 60 years. It is the tomb of many of the 1,177 crewmembers known to have died the attack.
The National Park Service operates a hall- |
