PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – One of the last surviving veterans of the sinking of the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor has been reunited with his fallen shipmates.
Raymond Haerry was interred on the ship in a ceremony that his granddaughter says was solemn and beautiful.
Haerry was 19 years old when bombs started falling on his battleship on Dec. 7, 1941. He never returned to Pearl Harbor while he lived because the memories were too painful. As he neared the end of his life, he told his family he’d like to be laid to rest there.
Haerry died Sept. 27 in Rhode Island at age 94. Five Arizona survivors remain.
Haerry’s granddaughter, Jessica Marino, traveled from New Jersey to Hawaii with her family for Saturday’s ceremony. She handed his urn to divers, who placed it within the ship’s sunken hull. Hundreds of sailors and Marines are entombed there.