On December 7, 1941 Lauren was a 21-year old fire controlman aboard the USS Arizona when Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor. He scrambled to the crow’s nest of Gun Turret No. 2 and began shooting back. The Arizona took a direct hit from a bomb killing most of its crew, the fire trapping Lauren and 5 gunnery mates. A sailor on the USS Vestal, also bombed and sinking, heaved a line that Lauren and mates secured. Dangling above the rising flames, all 6 crossed hand by hand to the Vestal, escaping death as the Arizona sank to her watery grave. After 7 months recovering from burns, Lauren was assigned to the destroyer USS Coghlan seeing action from the Aleutian Islands to the Philippines, including observing the return of General MacArthur to the Philippines. Lauren’s decorations include a Purple Heart, American Defense Service, China Service, Navy Occupation Service – Asia, World War II Victory, Navy Good Conduct, Asia Pacific Campaign and American Campaign Medals, and Combat Action and Philippine Liberation Ribbons. Of the Arizona’s 1,511 crewmen, 1,177 died in the explosion and fires. Of the 334 survivors of the attack, Lauren is 1 of 5 alive today and forever grateful he survived Pearl Harbor to live a full life. Lauren is 98 and resides in La Mirada.