CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
USS Arizona survivor Don Stratton autographed an action figure made in his likeness at Pearl Harbor yesterday. Stratton narrowly escaped from the burning wreckage of the USS Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941, when the ship was hit with an 800-kilogram bomb.
They stood in lines patiently for a picture or an autograph. Pearl Harbor veteran
is newest action figureDonald G. Stratton is a
survivor of the USS ArizonaBy Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comHowever, the object of these admirers' attention was not a rock star or a movie celebrity.
It was simply a World War II sailor whose story of heroism and pain on Dec. 7, 1941, moved them.
Donald G. Stratton was a 19-year-old seaman first class on the USS Arizona when Japanese warbirds swooped down on Pearl Harbor's Battleship Row 61 years ago and within two hours sank or damaged 21 vessels of the Pacific Fleet. Of the 1,177 officers and sailors that made up the Arizona's company, only 330 survived.
Stratton was one of them, and he was chosen by the Arizona Memorial Association and the National Park Service to be the first action figure developed by Indiana-based company Valor USA.
Daniel Martinez, park service historian, said 7,000 Stratton action figures were ordered and will be sold at the Arizona Memorial Association bookstore for $29.95. The Stratton figure is a first in the "Americans of Valor" series.
During a morning presentation at the visitor center, Stratton told his audience yesterday that he had just finished his breakfast on Dec. 7 when "a sailor started yelling and pointing at Ford Island.
"I saw all those planes bombing Ford Island. As they banked I could see the Japanese insignia," said Stratton, who recently turned 80.
Stratton said he immediately reported to his battle station on the port side of the Arizona on the gun deck above the bridge. "They were torpedoing us ... and I watched as the USS Oklahoma capsized." Then it seemed like "we were hit by a solid earthquake. The Arizona was a 35,000-ton ship, but it shook like a piece of paper."
Martinez explained that a 800-kilogram bomb dropped by a Japanese high-altitude bomber had smashed into the Arizona's starboard deck. "There were 50 or 60 people at my station," Stratton added, "and a ball of fire encompassed us."
Martinez said that Stratton was one of five sailors who survived the fireball.
Badly burned on his hands and legs, Stratton and several other sailors used a line stretched between the Arizona and USS Vestal and went hand over hand over the burning wreckage of the Arizona to the safe haven of the Vestal. In the process, more than 60 percent of Stratton's body was burned. Stratton endured five skin grafts and a convalescence period of nearly a year. He was awarded the Purple Heart and given a medical discharge.
However, two years after the Pearl Harbor attack, Stratton re-enlisted in the Navy and returned to the Pacific campaign on a destroyer, participating in the invasion of the Philippines and Okinawa before he was discharged again in 1945.
Among the more than 100 attendees yesterday was Kelan Connolly, 16, who bought the action figure for his grandfather Oliver Morin, 83, who lives Fall River. Mass.
"He's really into history," said the 16-year-old teenager.
Shane Fulk, 13, said he bought the figure because he "likes historical events. I learned a lot from the World War II class I took in the seventh grade last year."
The Stratton action figure is representative of all the World War II battleship row sailors, Martinez said. The doll, dressed in long-sleeved light blue chambray shirt, dark blue bell-bottom dungarees and dark blue life preserver, holds a scale replica of a 5-inch shell.
Stratton will be at the Arizona visitor center today, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. He will give a presentation on those days at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
