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HONOLULU, Hawaii: Ken Potts, a US sailor who survived the sinking of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, has died at 102 years old.

At the time of his death, Potts was one of only two remaining Arizona survivors.

The Arizona sunk nine minutes after being bombed by the Japanese, with losses of 1,177 dead.

The Arizona accounted for nearly half of all US deaths at Pearl Harbor.

The USS Arizona memorial sits in Pearl Harbor, above the sunken warship. More than than 900 dead sailors and officers remain inside the hulk.

Potts, a resident of Provo, Utah, leaves behind his wife of 66 years, according to Randy Stratton, whose father, Donald Stratton, also served on the Arizona and remained a close friend of Potts.

Potts grew up in Honey Bend, Illinois, and joined the Navy in 1939.

On the day of the attack at Pearl Harbor, Potts was working as a crane operator moving supplies to the Arizona.

In a 2020 oral history interview with the American Veterans Center, Potts said

“When I got back to Pearl Harbor, the whole harbor was afireThe oil had leaked out and caught on fire and was burning.”

Sailors were either thrown into the harbor or jumped, and Potts and other sailors pulled some to safety.

“Even after I got out of the Navy, out in the open, and heard a siren, I’d shake,” he said.

The only remaining survivor from the Arizona is now Lou Conter, who is 101 and living in California.

“This is history. It’s going away,” Stratton said, adding: “And once (Conter is) gone, who tells all their stories?”

It was noted that in recent years, several dozen Arizona survivors had their ashes interred on the sunken battleship so they could join their shipmates.