Three of the five living survivors of the USS Arizona were feted from the Pentagon to the Oval Office Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men survived the sinking of the ship after it was bombed by the Japanese during the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Donald Trump lauded Lauren Bruner, a fire controlman, Donald Stratton, a seaman first class, and Ken Potts, a coxswain, during a Friday afternoon ceremony at the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump said it was their first visit to D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cI hope this trip does honor to you and your truly heroic service,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to thank you, thank you all. That is so good. Thank you very much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also on hand was Joe Ann Taylor, daughter of the late Joe George, a sailor on the USS Vestal who saved Bruner and Stratton by throwing a line on to the ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHis name will go down in history,\u201d Trump said. \u201cVery brave, very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bruner and Stratton \u201cclung to that rope, and hand over hand, they crossed through the 70 feet of flames, burning endlessly,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDespite suffering terrible burns still with them today, they both served in the Navy for years after, fighting in some of the greatest Pacific engagements in World War II,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump also recounted Potts\u2019s selflessness more than 75 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRather than flee from the fire and chaos, he drove his small boat into the blazing hot water,\u201d Trump said. \u201cHe climbed aboard the sinking Arizona and carried off passengers one by one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier in the day, the vets were given a hero\u2019s welcome at the Pentagon, where they were greeted with cheers and applause from troops and Pentagon staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Arizona is now a memorial and resting place to the 1,177 sailors and Marines who lost their lives when the ship sunk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump also managed to get in a plug for increased military spending as Congress works out the latest defense bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur military\u2019s very proud again, aren\u2019t they?\u201d he asked the aged veterans. \u201cThey\u2019re seeing lots of ships, right, and lots of planes. Lots of great equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Survivors of the USS Arizona were greeted with cheers and applause by U.S. service members and Defense Department staff as they visited the Pentagon early Friday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":69133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":15,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,65],"tags":[8494],"coauthors":[3399,3342,3355],"class_list":["post-35646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-navy","tag-japan"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"M7MZ4ZOL65BQNL2I4C3ZCUYK24","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2017\/07\/21\/uss-arizona-survivors-receive-heros-welcome-at-white-house-and-pentagon\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n