Provo man is one of five USS Arizona survivors still alive
PROVO, Utah (KUTV) — Americans across the country are marking the 77th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
For the first time ever, no one from the USS Arizona who survived the attack attended the memorial in Hawaii. There are only five of those veterans left and one of them lives in Provo.
Ken Potts was 20 years old when the Japanese attacked. He escaped the USS Arizona just before it went under.
“I was the starboard side crane operator,” Potts said.
He is now 97 years old.
“Everything was fire. The oil on the water was fire,” he said
Potts said he narrowly escaped the Arizona before a Japanese bomb struck.
“There was so much confusion you didn’t have time to think about nothing but staying alive,” Potts said.
Today, he is one of five remaining survivors of the USS Arizona.
“I am very fortunate and very blessed to have survived the attack and to still be alive today,” Potts said.
