Louis Conter was born in Ojibwa, Wisconsin in September 1921. He had one younger and one older sister. The family left Ojibwa in 1922 when his father and uncle found work as road crew supervisors in New Mexico. The work was on the construction of Route 66. His uncle left his job on a farm in Kansas to help with the supervision of a 40 man work crew. Conter's mother and aunt worked in the cook tent to feed the road crew. The family lived in a tent during that time. The work on the highway lasted two years. After that, the family moved to Denver, Colorado when the children became old enough to attend school. Conter's father found work with Swift & Company [Annotator's Note: Swift & Company was a meat packing company in Denver] on the killing floor. Conter's father worked in Denver until 1927 when the family moved to Stockton, Kansas where Conter's uncle had formerly worked before they went to New Mexico. Conter attended the first through third grades in a small country school in Stockton. At seven years of age, he was hunting rabbits in order to provide meat for the family supper. In 1930, the family moved back to Denver where Conter's father was rehired by Swift & Company. The family moved onto 20 acres of land in order to grow crops for extra income. During this time, the average hourly wage was 30 cents per hour. From 1931 to 1937, the family continued to live on the farm. Conter would walk almost five miles to school and return that same distance afterwards. Because the farm did not having running water, Conter would often shower after his sports activities at school at the end of the day. By doing so before he returned home, it saved the effort of heating water and taking a bath in a tub in the kitchen with the doors closed. When Conter finished school, he was hired by Swift & Company because of his father's good work ethic. Conter kept pace with the older men even though he was only a teenager. He had a good job and he worked hard at it.

Louis Conter accompanied a friend's brother to the Navy recruiting station so that the individual could reenlist. Conter had just turned 18 years old. The recruiters later called Conter to help fill an unforeseen recruitment shortage. Conter informed his employer, family and friends and then enlisted in the Navy. His boot camp training was in San Diego, California. Following three months of training, he was given a 30 day leave to return home. Upon return to the west coast, Conter was assigned to the USS Arizona (BB-39) in Long Beach, California. He became a member of the 2nd Division, assigned to the number two turret and deck cleaning operations. Like all new recruits of the day, he served time in the galley as a mess cook. That lasted three months. During his off hours, Conter would study manuals. His efforts were recognized and he was offered a promotion to Seaman 2nd class in the Quartermaster department. Here he would learn navigational skills that would benefit him later. Additionally, his pay increased to 36 dollars per month plus government supplied room and board. In April 1940, the Pacific fleet went on maneuvers around Hawaii. When the ship docked in Honolulu, the crew was told that they would not be returning to the west coast but would remain in Pearl Harbor. Conter continued to study hard and took the exam for Quartermaster 3rd Class. He passed and was promoted, even though he had only been in the Navy for two years. In October 1940, the Arizona sailed to Puget Sound Navy Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington for an overhaul. While there, Conter went on a 30 day leave back home. His girlfriend returned his ring to him. He used the proceeds to buy a watch. In November 1940, he returned to Bremerton where the overhaul was being completed. After the Arizona returned to Pearl Harbor from Bremerton, Conter took the examination for flight school and was accepted. The Base Force commander for Pearl Harbor, Admiral W.L. Calhoun, approved the transfer but the Arizona's commander, Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh, refused to pay for the transit since the ship was scheduled to return to the west coast in mid December 1941. Late in November, the Arizona performed maneuvers and subsequently returned to Pearl Harbor on 5 December 1941. Conter was the helmsman for transit of the Arizona in and out of Pearl Harbor. After the Arizona was moored at Pearl Harbor, the repair ship USS Vestal (AR-4) was tied up alongside.

Louis Conter arrived onboard the USS Arizona (BB-39) in Pearl Harbor on 5 December 1941 following practice firing and maneuvering operations off the Hawaiian coast. Upon arrival, the Arizona had the USS Vestal (AR-4) tied up outboard. Although the band was partially on the ship's fantail at the start of the raid, with the sounding of general quarters, the band members immediately went to their battle stations where they perished during the attack. The commander of the ship, Captain Van Valkenburgh [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Franklin Butler Van Valkenburgh], and his commander, Admiral Kidd [Annotator's Note: US Navy Admiral Isaac C. Kidd], were on the bridge of at the time of the attack. The bomb hit on number four turret came before the bomb penetration of the forward decks near turret number two. The bomb that exploded forward was in the magazine containing one million pounds of powder for the forward two turrets. That explosion noticeably raised the bow of the ship. Fires ignited on the forward portion of the ship. The Vestal threw lines to the Arizona attempting to rescue crewmen. Within 13 minutes of the commencement of the raid, the Arizona was blown apart by the ignition of the powder in the forward magazine. Conter knows that talking about the experience helps the survivors overcome the PTSD [Annotator's Note: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder]. Talking about the memories will help the stress the veterans may experience. The call to abandon ship was made about 30 minutes after the fatal explosion. Wounded and burned crewmen were removed but few came out of the fire in the forward portion of the ship. Arizona survivors were dispersed to units needing manpower. Conter visited a badly wounded shipmate named Lightfoot in the hospital. That man died three days later. Conter was assigned to the Shore Patrol [Annotator's Note: Shore Patrol is the military police for the Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps] for the Pearl Harbor base force. He helped maintain order in the sordid parts of Honolulu. Martial law had been declared with the concern for follow up Japanese attacks. No one could be on the streets or they might be shot. Word was sent to Conter's family that he had survived the attack. When Conter was on leave during the first week in January [Annotator's Note: January 1942], he came in contact with Admiral Calhoun [Annotator's Note: US Navy Admiral William L. Calhoun]. The admiral made arrangements for Conter to return to the United States for flight training. Conter transited to the west coast on the SS Lurline passenger ship along with evacuees from Hawaii.

Louis Conter arrived in San Francisco after his voyage from Hawaii. He took a train trip to Pensacola, Florida during January 1942. Upon arrival, he immediately went into flight school and learned not only to fly but also navigation and flight adjustments to be made to hold course during various weather conditions. He received his wings in November 1942 and was assigned to VP-11 [Annotator's Note: Patrol Squadron 11] in San Diego, California. He held the rank of Quartermaster 3rd class at the time. In 1943, he received his Naval Aviation Pilot rating and was assigned to the first PBY [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat] Black Cat Squadron. The Black Cat planes were painted black for night duty. In February 1943, Conter returned to Honolulu flying a PBY. There were 12 PBYs in his squadron. It took them 19 hours and extra fuel cans to make the long flight. VP-11's initial assignment was to help new pilots learn flight navigation and how to make the requisite in-flight navigational adjustments needed due to environmental influences on the aircraft. Those new pilots were on antisubmarine duty between Pearl Harbor and Midway. Somewhat resentful at first, the new pilots came to appreciate the navigational skills of Conter and VP-11 and learned from them. VP-11's next assignment was to fly to Perth, Australia. It took six days of flying nine hours per day to reach their destination. For a month and a half after arrival, missions were flown between their base in Australia and the Timor and Philippine Islands. The missions entailed rescuing people from those islands. In May 1943, VP-11's operations transitioned to Port Moresby. The squadron used the tenders USS Half Moon (AVP-26) and USS San Pablo (AVP-30) as their bases. Buoys were placed outboard of the tender to secure the PBYs when at rest. The PBY crewmen would eat and live on the tender but sleep on their aircraft. Between May 1943 and January 1944, Conter and VP-11 flew night missions to raid Japanese held locations and shipping. The PBYs used a combination of ordnance including torpedoes and bombs.

Louis Conter and the VP-11 [Annotator's Note: Patrol Squadron 11] Catalinas [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat] carried night flares aboard the aircraft. Those flares were used to keep hostile troops awake when an Allied morning attack was pending. This would increase the fatigue of the enemy when the Allies launched their attack. On one mission in September 1943, a well placed enemy round ignited the flares on the ship and quickly spread to the aft portion of the ship. An emergency landing on the sea was required. Immediately after setting down, the crew evacuated the ship with only one life jacket and no life rafts or boats. There were ten crewmen so the worse injured of them received the jacket. One of the other planes in the squadron flew over and dropped a lifeboat. The crew thus managed to avoid sharks and paddled to the nearby New Guinea shore. Hiding in the jungle from the enemy, Conter heard a PT boat [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boat] and with a mate paddled out to the loitering PT. Taken aboard, the PT crew refused to let Corner and his mate go back for the other stranded men. Instead, three UDT [Annotator's Note: Underwater Demolition Team] men on the PT went back and quickly rescued the remaining eight stranded PBY crewmen. The speedy PT returned all ten of the rescued PBY crewmen to the tender where they were debriefed, ate, and rested. They had little time off as they flew another 13 hour dive bombing mission the next night. With the extensive combat in the Rabaul region, the PBYs flew 20 of 30 nights during November [Annotator's Note: November 1943]. In December, a large contingent of Australian coast watchers were surrounded by the Japanese on the Sepik River inland from Wewak, New Guinea in headhunter country. Conter's squadron stripped their PBYs of weapons and other weight to allow evacuation of 15 to 17 Australians per night. In three days, all 219 coast watchers were pulled out of the encirclement. It was one of the greatest rescues that never received any publicity. Japanese fighters were flying out of Wewak, but not a man was lost in the rescue operation. The clearance of PBY wing tips when landing or taking off was very close to the surrounding jungle. The PBYs had to climb to the clouds quickly to evade Japanese Zeros [Annotator's Note: Mitzubishi A6M fighter aircraft, also referred to as the Zeke or Zero]. Near the end of December 1943, VP-11 was assigned to assist their replacements in VP-52 [Annotator's Note: Patrol Squadron 52] with familiarization of rescue operations and conditions. While on a mission to rescue a B-25 [Annotator's Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber] bomber crew, they were downed by friendly fire from Allied fighters. One of the PBY crewmen was fatally wounded. Another PBY rescued Conter and his crew. General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: US Army General Douglas MacArthur] visited with them and confirmed that the officer responsible for the erroneous PBY downing was punished. Conter flew with the Black Cat PBYs to protect the Australian and Guadalcanal defensive line that had been drawn for them by General MacArthur. MacArthur had demanded that no Japanese forces were to pass south of the line between those islands. Early in the war, there was not much deterrence to the enemy aggression but the Black Cats were one of them. In the bitterness of war in the Pacific, few prisoners were taken and only if they were thought to be able to provide intelligence. The PBY was used to strafe the enemy as well as dive bomb and torpedo attack enemy ships. Bombs were carried below the wing and had to be released evenly or the aircraft would not fly evenly. Used as night attack aircraft, the PBY had antiaircraft fire aimed at it but the shots most often missed due to lack of visual contact by the enemy. For the most part, the PBY missions were successful.

Louis Conter returned to the United States for night fighter training. When he received his commission in New Guinea, he became an ensign. Later, he was promoted to Lieutenant (junior grade). When he reached Florida, the assignment officer knew him and told him that he would not have to experience combat any further. His night fighter training was cancelled. Instead, Conter was transferred to Lake City, Florida and then to Norman, Oklahoma. He was in Norman when the war ended. Having the rank of Lieutenant, Conter was transferred to Santa Ana, California and given the duty of selling surplus materials that were collected in blimp hangars. In 1948, Conter was sent to school in Washington, D.C. for education in air, photographic, and radar intelligence. During the Korean War, he was made air intelligence officer for Carrier Air Group 102. That air group was assigned to the USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) and sent to operate offshore of Korea during the war. Conter was off the coast of Korea from May 1951 through December 1951. He flew missions during that time but was grounded because of the military intelligence he possessed. He was returned to the United States for special operations for NID [Annotator's Note: National Intelligence Department]. First going to Norfolk, Virginia, he then transferred to Fort Bragg, North Carolina in the Special Forces. He interfaced with foreign and domestic Special Forces officers. Conter's job was to learn survival techniques for application in the Navy. He became the first SERE officer for the Navy. He instructed naval personnel in survival, evasion, resistance, and escape, SERE. He established schools in Maine, and worked in Nevada, and Germany. In 1954, he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. In 1958, he was sent to the Naval War College because he was good at staff work. In 1965 and 1966, Admiral Sharp [Annotator's Note: Admiral Ulysses S. Grant Sharp, Jr.] called on him to write the SERE Program for Vietnam. Conter retired in December 1967 after 28 years of service. He returned to the United States and became vice president of a financial institution dealing in real estate in Palm Springs. Looking back at his duty with the Special Forces in July 1953, most of the troops had been in the Rangers or OSS during World War 2. Since Conter was in the BOQ [Annotator's Note: Bachelor Officers' Quarters], he was given extra tough training. Overall, it was a good experience and bonded him with the other trainees. The training helped Conter in SERE manual development for Vietnam and the United States Navy. The SERE program was an important legacy for Conter.

Louis Conter left boot camp in San Diego, California with the knowledge that he was to be assigned to the battleship USS Arizona (BB-39). He took a liberty boat ride to the battleship, and within 20 minutes of boarding her, he had been assigned to a division and was at work. There was no disagreeing with orders. His duty station was the aft lower handling room. The lower handling room was where the gun powder was stored for the ship's aft guns. The work was strenuous, tough and largely manual labor. Each of four main gun turrets had a division assigned to it. There was a fifth division which was assigned to the gun deck for the three inch and five inch guns. Conter's work on the Arizona also included three months of galley work as a mess cook. He labored at serving three good meals a day to the ship's crew. After those three months, he returned to the division and worked on deck cleaning and scraping and repainting the exterior of the ship. As a quartermaster, Conter learned semaphore [Annotator's Note: a communication technique using flag positioning to represent letters of the alphabet or numbers]. He would transmit messages to the Officer of the Deck. Coordination on the ship was largely a manual operation. Conter would maintain his classification as Officer of the Deck Underway even after his flight training and gaining his wings. He learned that skill while in his quartermaster position. Later, after his assignment to VP-11 [Annotator's Note: Patrol Squadron 11], the Black Cat Squadron, he was picked as navigator for the 12 plane squadron because of his background. After his plane was downed, his commanding officer gave him credit for saving the airplane's crew. Crew survival was a result of what he had learned. He learned to take care of his shipmates on the Arizona. The men learned to work together and take care of each other. Those lessons stayed with Conter.

Louis Conter started 7 December 1941 aboard USS Arizona (BB-39) in Pearl Harbor. It was his practice to substitute for married shipmates so that they could spend more weekend time with their family. He went on duty just minutes before the start of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. He, along with his shipmates, knew something was going to happen with the Japanese but they did not know where or when. When the first bombs started falling, general quarters were sounded immediately. Within 30 seconds, the Arizona was beginning to fire its weapons. Ammunition was still available near the guns in the ready service lockers due to the fact that the Arizona had just returned on 5 December from offshore firing practice. Although some of the lockers were secured, the division's watch standers had keys for quick access to the ammunition. Conter was on the quarter deck but his friend had just gone forward for his watch. His friend would not survive the bomb hit and magazine explosion on the forward end of the ship. Within two minutes of the general quarters alert, the ship's guns were manned and firing, watertight doors and hatches were secured, the repair ship [Annotator's Note: USS Vestal (AR-4)] was being pushed away to free up for transit, and the engines were started. Even the 30 members of the ship's band were all at their battle stations. The Arizona was readying itself to make a run out of the harbor, similar to the USS Nevada (BB-36). The Nevada would eventually beach itself rather than obstruct the channel outlet from Pearl Harbor to the sea. Japanese planes were swarming over to sink it in the channel and block access to the harbor. The quartermaster made the right decision to beach rather than block harbor access. Had he not done so and the Nevada sunk in the channel, Pearl Harbor's usefulness could have been impacted for months while the ship was refloated. Much of the major damage to the ships on Battleship Row took place in the first 15 minutes of the raid. Within that time, Arizona was bombed aft and then forward. The forward bomb penetrated several decks and exploded in the forward magazine which immediately engulfed the fore body of the ship in flames. The immediate job became firefighting forward of the main mast of the ship. In the process, lifesaving of fellow injured crewmen was paramount. Days after the attack, Conter joined a shallow water diving crew to attempt to recover bodies from the ship. After several risky tries at pulling bodies from the overhead of the sunken ship's compartments, it became obvious that no one was still alive and the danger involved in the recovery operation was significant. The commanding officer ordered the men to stand to and leave the remaining bodies in the ship. The recovery operation was aborted. The Arizona lost 1,177 of its crewmen during the attack on 7 December 1941. Of the ship's survivors, many were quickly transferred to other ships or duty. It was fortunate that the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) was not in port on that day. She had been delivering F4U [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft] aircraft to Wake Island. The Japanese had erroneously reported the sinking of an American carrier at Pearl Harbor. Their report could have been based on the sinking of the target ship USS Utah (BB-31). Because of the concern for Japanese amphibious attacks, a curfew was imposed on the Hawaiian Islands after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Louis Conter was located between the USS Arizona (BB-39)'s turrets three and four during the attack. With the terrible fires that erupted forward of the main mast, he began to hear banging and opened hatches to rescue fellow crewmen. Behind one hatch, he found four survivors in neck deep water. Firefighting became a priority on the quarterdeck. He was lucky to survive. He saw Japanese torpedo planes fly directly overhead after they had dropped their ordnance. The faces of the enemy pilots could be clearly seen. Since the crew had trained extensively in what to do in an emergency or an attack, they responded according to that training. After the extensive damage to the Arizona during the first 15 minutes of the attack, the effort became a rescue mission. Conter had far more combat experience as a PBY [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat] flyer than he did on the Arizona during the attack. The attack on Pearl Harbor was only two hours in what would become a three and a half to four year war. When the fatal bomb hit the Arizona, Conter was preparing to get the ship underway. After the bomb struck the fore body, the bow blew up and within two seconds it was on fire. The bomb was dropped by high altitude bombers. It was an explosion Conter will never forget. Deaths and injuries happened quickly but the training of the surviving crew resulted in their fast actions to salvage who and what they could.

Louis Conter left the USS Arizona (BB-39) via a liberty boat after her fatal bombing. He boarded the boat near number four turret on the starboard side. While in the boat, they picked up Lauren Bruner and other survivors from the water, covered with burning oil. Some of the survivors were attempting to swim to Ford Island so the liberty boat could access that area better than larger vessels in order to save the men. They were on the port side of the ship with Ford Island outboard. Tugs were too large to fit within that area so the liberty boat aided in rescue and firefighting. It took two days for the fires to subside after the Pearl Harbor attack. A week after the raid, Conter returned to the Arizona and donned shallow water diving gear to assist in body recovery. The body recovery operation was aborted after only four sailors were recovered. The danger involved was too great to attempt any further. The divers explored only the areas aft of the main mast. There was no access to attempt recovery forward because of the total destruction of the ship compartments near the destroyed forward magazine. The divers also removed 290,000 dollars from the supply officer's safe. Returning to Hawaii in 1951, Conter could not bring himself to return to the Arizona. In 1965 when he went to Hawaii to write the SERE [Annotator's Note: Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape] program, his commanding officer told him to board the platform. It was very difficult. Since 1965, Conter has returned numerous times. It has been good but difficult to look at those names on the wall of the memorial. What has struck Conter is the fact that his name could have also been on the wall. The loss of the ship and his shipmates was a long time ago but still vivid in his memory. [Annotator's Note: Conter is emotionally affected by the recollection of the memories of the Arizona and his lost shipmates.]

Louis Conter started to talk to school students about Pearl Harbor in 1991. He and other Pearl Harbor attack survivors would tell the stories of their experiences and follow up with questions and answers. He has spoken at various venues for not only school groups but other organizations. The survivors are glad to tell their story, but the number of survivors is diminishing as the years go by. The effort to keep the story alive is good for all to hear.

Louis Conter saw the Second World War as an unconditional victory. Today's world is different. We should try to knock out today's enemy in order to save American lives. Department of Defense and Washington should not define rules of engagement for the military. It should be left to the commander in the field. The involvement in Korea for 60 years has been too long. Pearl Harbor should be remembered because of the approach of unconditional surrender. There has to be a change in attitude to win and bring the fighters home. Instant communication is not helpful when there is gunfire going on. No one should author books about the details of their experiences if they are in the Special Forces, Green Berets, or Navy SEALs. Their lips should be sealed.

Louis Conter enjoyed knowing both Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. He enjoyed Bob Hope the most as he was the serviceman's entertainer through the years. Conter played in golf tournaments with both Hope and Crosby and liked them each on a personal basis. He feels that the tournaments were more enjoyable when there were more amateurs playing in them. Conter bought a home in Idaho from Crosby.