Lauren Bruner was born in November 1920 in Shelton, Washington. He discusses his upbringing and childhood by recounting that he was one of six children and his father worked in a shingle mill. Unfortunately, he died, leaving his mother to raise the six kids in McClearly, Washington. She had a job in a lumber mill, but as the Great Depression worsened all the women were laid off so that the men could continue to work. This led to him and his siblings being farmed out to various families and his first such experience was with a family that he found to be too religious, so he struck out and began to work at a nearby dairy. He was around eight years old, but big enough to help transport the milk containers to and from the dairy. On one occasion, he was making a delivery at a dock area when it came to pass that he had actually been transporting moonshine; the people at the dairy were running whiskey. He was arrested, but being under age was sent to live with some cousins in Olympia, Washington. There, he was responsible for farming a small tract of land that they owned. The Depression continued to worsen, and his cousins lost their jobs, so he returned to working at a dairy and began high school. Some two years later, one of his brothers returned and told him that their mother had remarried, so he returned to live with her. He graduated high school, but found very little work. He decided to join the Navy, but at first was too young since he was only 17. He waited, and only ten days after his 18th birthday he was called by the recruiter and he enlisted.

Enlisting in the Navy at the age of 18, Lauren Bruner first reported to San Diego, California, for three months of training. Following that, he was temporarily assigned to the scullery where he washed dishes, peeled potatoes, etc. and awaited his ship assignment. He recounts a humorous anecdote in which he managed to get assigned to the bakery and as a result of being able to eat leftover pastries he gained 32 pounds in a single month. He was then assigned to the USS Arizona (BB-39), which at the time was in dry dock in Bremerton, Washington. He joined the ship there prior to her being re-floated and proceeding to Long Beach, California. After about a month on board, he discovered that one of his high school friends [Annotator's Note: he only describes him by his first name "Billy"] was also assigned to the ship. They spent many of their off-duty days together. In 1939, Bruner was sent to Vallejo, California for school and during the three months he spent there the ship was sent out to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He and his friend had similar Navy ratings, but his friend was in gunnery and he was in fire control [Annotator's Note: fire controlmen were those crew members responsible for directing where the guns on a ship are to be fired]. He discusses the various sporting competitions like baseball, boxing, and rowing that take place between ships. He recounts that he met a girl while on Shore Patrol [Annotator's Note: military police] duty and that they had a date the night before the Pearl Harbor attack. He describes that the attack came as a complete surprise; there hadn't been any talk of war prior. He goes into some detail about the sinking of the ship, describing the bomb hit that penetrated three decks and detonated the 1.5 million pounds of gunpowder that was stored in the forward magazine. Since his friend was the one responsible for the security of that area, he says that he was down there when the bomb hit and didn't survive the attack. The ship exploded and flames were everywhere; he suffered burns over 70 percent of his body. He was transferred to the hospital ship USS Solace (AH-5) and began a seven-month period of treatment and recovery. At approximately two to three week intervals, his wounds would need to be debrided, a very painful process. He eventually healed to the point where he could resume duty.

Having survived the sinking of USS Arizona (BB-39) and the subsequent treatment for his burn injuries, Lauren Bruner was assigned to a destroyer [Annotator's Note: USS Coghlan (DD-606)]. He feels that the reason he was assigned was that it was a new ship and she needed training in fire control, which is what he had been sent to school to learn earlier in his career. He discusses two patrols he made with the ship off of the Aleutian Islands, where they opposed the Japanese landing forces. He goes into detail on a battle that took place off the Komandorski Islands, during which the ship laid a smoke screen for the USS Salt Lake City (CL-25) and participated in a torpedo attack against the Japanese task force. He recounts that after this battle, the ship returned to the United States where she was modified with a black light system that enabled her to lead amphibious troop landings at night.

Bruner's ship [Annotator's Note: USS Coghlan (DD-606)] returned briefly to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii before setting out for the Philippine Islands. He describes several actions against the Japanese, during which the ship provided support for troops landing ashore. The first action he discusses takes place on south Leyte island, during which they were escorting several LCVP [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel] amphibious boats. He describes an attack by several Japanese kamikazes [Annotator's Note: suicide planes] during which the USS Reid (DD-369) was sunk. Following this engagement, the ship took part in actions off of the Mindanao Straits, during which the Japanese suffered heavy losses. From there the ship proceeded to the island of Luzon, and he describes watching several rehearsals of the filming of General Douglas MacArthur's return to the Philippines. After these actions, the ship headed to Wake Island, where American forces were marshaling for an eventual invasion of Japan. Before this could take place, two atomic bombs were dropped and the Japanese surrendered. His ship then sailed into Nagasaki, harbor, Japan, which he describes as a large submarine base. As they entered the harbor, they were prepared in the event of any Japanese resistance.

Having moored in the harbor at Nagasaki, Japan, Lauren Bruner and some shipmates [Annotator's Note: from the USS Coghlan (DD-606)] got a jeep and toured the city. He remembers the massive destruction present; he recalls but a single building still standing. He also recounts that the city had no sewer system and that the roads drained off into ditches that ran between the road and the sidewalk. When he toured the city, these ditches were filled with molten glass as a result of the atomic bomb being dropped. He also had occasion to tour Hiroshima, Japan, later and comments that during his postwar life, whenever he visited a doctor and provided a history of where he'd been, they were astonished that he showed no adverse signs of having been exposed to radiation. In his postwar life, he began working for company first as a painter, then a carpenter, then in sheet metal fabrication. When he was just shy of being eligible for a retirement, he was laid off. He comments that this was typical at the time as companies were trying to lower costs. For the remainder of this segment, he discusses his personal life during the period. He goes through some unfortunate circumstances; his first three wives pre-decease him, and his current wife [Annotator's Note: as of the date of the interview] is in an assisted living facility.

Returning to his experiences earlier in his Navy career, Lauren Bruner discusses particulars about his first ship, the USS Arizona (BB-39). His quarters were amidships on the main deck and his division was comprised of some 30 men. As a fire controlman, he manned gun directors for both the antiaircraft guns and the main battery 14-inch guns. On the morning of 7 December 1941, he was assigned to the antiaircraft director that was located on the foremast directly above the admiral's bridge on the ship. When the attack began, he had been in his quarters preparing for church services and the ship's loudspeaker announced to the crew to man battle stations. As he was proceeding to his station, he recalls having Japanese aircraft strafing the ship and he was wounded in the leg. He saw both high altitude and low altitude enemy aircraft and could very clearly make out the Japanese Rising Sun insignia. When the ship was hit by the bomb that detonated the forward magazine, he recalls that everyone up to his fire control platform, including Admiral Kidd [Annotator's Note: US Navy Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd] and Captain Valkenburg [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh], was killed. He recounts that when the explosion occurred, the entire bow of the ship was raised out of the water and one of the gun turrets came off and landed on the adjacent Ford Island. The waters surrounding the ship were covered with fuel oil that was on fire. He and five other survivors managed to get the attention of a sailor on the repair ship [Annotator's Note: USS Vestal (AR-4)] that was moored next to them and he passed them a line. They crawled hand-over-hand to the ship. Having been severely burned over large parts of his body, he was taken to the hospital ship USS Solace (AH-5) which was anchored nearby. He recounts that the uniform at the time was shorts and a t-shirt; little of it remained on him when he was taken to the hospital ship. [Annotator's Note: Earlier in the interview, Bruner describes the events that took place after the attack.]

Reflecting on the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Lauren Bruner still gets emotional. He discusses a variety of venues where he has been asked to recount that day, from high school assemblies to the visitor's center at the Arizona Memorial to interacting with crew members on present-day U. S. Navy ships. He recalls long lines of people wishing to take his photograph or have him autograph pictures and he doesn't want to disappoint them despite how painful his recollections can be. He bears no ill will towards the Japanese and has on occasion interacted with both current and former members of the Japanese Navy. He feels it's important to remember the war and those who fought in it, and important to continue to teach the same to current and future generations.