The oldest of the USS Arizona survivors dies at 100

Joe Langdell, the oldest living survivor of the USS Arizona, died Wednesday at 100.

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published 9 February 2015

Joe Langdell, the oldest living survivor of Pearl Harbor's USS Arizona, died Wednesday at the age of 100.

Langdell, who left his job as a junior accountant in Boston to join the Navy in 1940, was one of 344 from the Arizona to survive the Dec. 7, 1941 attack. With his death, only eight crewmen remain, The Arizona Republic reports. Langdell's first assignment was at the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, and on Dec. 6, 1941, he spent the night in the barracks on a small patch of land in Pearl Harbor after a training session.

He was awakened by the attack, and helped injured sailors and Marines get medical care, and in the days following recovered bodies. He remained in the Navy through World War II, and throughout his life wore a USS Arizona hat. In a 2006 video interview with his son Ted, he said, "The lesson I've learned from that experience is that the 1,177 men entombed on the ship right now will never know the love of a wife or the joy of grandchildren. We all have to remember that they did not die in vain."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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