Warren S. Wimmer, American Fork, Utah: an interview by Winston Erickson, May 26, 2000: Saving the legacy tape no. 25, 26, and 27

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W RR .WIMMER a ' 26 2000 we looked we aw the plane come down and bomb the rizoua. It' a a 500 lb. bomb. It looked like it went down the tack, but it hit mid hip and went right down into the lower deck . That set off all of the ammunition magazine . The Arizona went rioht straight down, and 1,100 and some odd sailors were entrapped in that hip. They clo ed the hatches as quickly as they could to keep her from sinking. They clo ed the hatche on 1,100 and some odd sailors that were below decks. They're still entombed in the Arizona. I stood there on the water's edge and watched the bombs that blew up the USS Arizona. At that time many of my shipmates had been killed that I went through boot camp with because there were about ten or twelve of them that went on the Arizona. Many years later, as I went out and read the names of those that had been entombed in the Arizona, I found several names of fellows I went through boot camp with. We knew that the whole bay was going to go up in flames any minute because the battlewagons were on fire, the planes were strafing, and the bombs were dropping. Every time their plane would come over close to where we were, we'd run over and get under the old truck. I don't know why because that wouldn't save you, but we always thought that if you hid under something it would protect you. Several of the fellows that swam to shore we pulled out of the water. We put them on this old weapons carrier, and when we got about ten or twelve on we'd head over to the naval hospital, which was just around the bend, and right straight across down from the Battleship Row. So we took our first load to the naval hospital. And, as we did, we just saw 25