Second to the Last to Leave USS Arizona
By: Jr. Edward J. McGrath, Craig O. Thompson, Rear Admiral Fernandez L. Ponds, and Commander Jeffrey W. James
500 Pages
Paperback
January, 2017
Second to the Last to Leave is a true story of lost love and the desire to live through one of America's greatest battles lost, as it shares the story of a young man's coming of age at the moment World War II begins. This is truly one of the last great World War II stories to be shared with future generations and is told by the sailor and Arizona Crew Member Lauren Bruner, who shares his story raw and full of laughter and tears.
At 97, Lauren tells the story of his first true love with a beautiful Japanese bartender named Nikki on the night before the attack only to have the enemy pull her from his grip, never to be seen again.
According to those who have read this book, it is a gripping thriller and unlike any other battlefield account, as it allows the reader to step back in time and stand next to a young man fighting for his life minute by minute as those around him perish.
This book has everything good storytelling is all about: lost love, adventure, death, and the desire to live as well as an underlying need to fulfill a personal promise to honor the man who saved his life, which was finally accomplished 76 years later.
One of the 5 remaining crew members, Lou Conter probably sums up the book best when he describes it as the "best and most thrilling account of what really took place aboard Arizona on the morning of 7 December, 1941" and he recommends Lauren's book as the best he has ever read.
At 97, Lauren tells the story of his first true love with a beautiful Japanese bartender named Nikki on the night before the attack only to have the enemy pull her from his grip, never to be seen again.
According to those who have read this book, it is a gripping thriller and unlike any other battlefield account, as it allows the reader to step back in time and stand next to a young man fighting for his life minute by minute as those around him perish.
This book has everything good storytelling is all about: lost love, adventure, death, and the desire to live as well as an underlying need to fulfill a personal promise to honor the man who saved his life, which was finally accomplished 76 years later.
One of the 5 remaining crew members, Lou Conter probably sums up the book best when he describes it as the "best and most thrilling account of what really took place aboard Arizona on the morning of 7 December, 1941" and he recommends Lauren's book as the best he has ever read.
