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66 years.; local boy's story.
Topic Started: Dec 8 2007, 12:56 AM (202 Views)
fab4fan
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88-year-old witnessed dive-bombers, describes escape

December 7, 2007
By Michelle L. Quinn Post-Tribune correspondent

John Latko Sr. still doesn't know how he survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, but he suspects saying the "Lord's Prayer" might've had something to do with it.

The 88-year-old Hammond man's experience escaping the wreckage of the USS West Virginia on Dec. 7, 1941, is more public than most survivors' stories; Latko happened to be on a life raft saving another sailor when a Life magazine photographer snapped the picture that ended up a centerfold. He doesn't need the picture to remind him of the horrific attack that killed 2,390 soldiers, though. His legs and hip remind every day.

"While we were in training, I was broad jumping 10, maybe 12 feet at a time, but when I jumped off the boat, it was more like 15 or 18 feet. I was jumping for my life," said the former Marine private.

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John Latko staples messages to colorful leis that he hands out as a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack December 6, 2007 at his Hammond home.
(Stephanie Dowell/Post-Tribune)


He and his mates were getting ready to play a game of baseball on the starboard side when they saw a plane dive-bombing. His ship, the USS West Virginia, lost 213 people; the USS Arizona suffered the heaviest casualty number, with 1,177 killed.

Another local survivor, Ray Crane, a former Navy man of Merrillville, served on the USS Maryland for five more years. Of the seven battles in which he fought during that time, the one he could never fully grasp was Pearl Harbor.

"First of all, I never understood why the papers never reported that Pearl Harbor was in the middle of its annual Admiral Military Inspection; all the brass was there, and we had all our ammunition put away because you don't want a gun to blow up around the brass," Crane said. "But I wasn't afraid."

May God Bless their souls!
Mnisthiti mou Kurie!
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Queenbee
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We were watching a show about this today. Did President Roosevelt know this was going to happen and not warn the appropriate people or did tell a few and told not to say anything? Sad, all those live's lost.

PEACE and love to my friends, Judy

When the Power of Love over comes the Love of Power, the world will know Peace.
-Sri Chinmnoy Ghose

Till me meet again ~ I Love you Mike! You were one of a kind.
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