Neighbors honor Pearl Harbor survivor with flags

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December 7, 2009

BY DENNIS BARTLOW The Commercial-News Mon Dec 07, 2009, 11:40 PM CST

COVINGTON, Ind. — American flags flew Monday along Orchard Drive.

Doris Cooper, 90, always has flown his flag on Dec. 7, because he remembers where he was 68 years ago on that date.

Sara Wheeler, a neighbor, rallied others along three-block street and most of them had their flags out Monday.

“I decided our neighbors needed to be supportive,” she said. “We have lived there for 23 years and each year we have putting a flag up on Pearl Harbor Day.”

Cooper was shocked to look out his window and see all the flags. He is the last Fountain County survivor of Pearl Harbor.

Cooper was stationed in the Navy on Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked.

“The attack lasted two hours,” he said.

Cooper was on the U.S.S. Tern AM 31, a mine sweeper. His ship was not hit when the attack came at 8 a.m. that Sunday. His crew rescued 47 from one ship before working to put out the fire on the U.S.S. West Virginia from 10 a.m. until 3-4 p.m. the next day.

“It was a helluva frightening thing,” said Cooper, who was 22 at the time.

Originally from the Charleston-Greenup, Ill., area, he enlisted for six years at Effingham, Ill., on Oct. 12, 1940. He took his oath less than a month later. After three weeks boot camp in Chicago, he was on the ship headed to Pearl Harbor.

The attack on Pearl Harbor pushed the United States into World War II. The attack at Pearl Harbor sank four U.S. battleships, two of which were salvaged, and damaged four more. It also damaged or sank three cruisers, three destroyers, a minelayer and 188 aircraft. There were 2,402 U.S. deaths and, 1,252 were injured.

Cooper was dismissed from the Navy in August 1945 on the island of Guam.

“I belong to the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association,” he said. “I get a magazine every three months.”

He said about 5,000 survivors remain. He knows of only one of his shipmates remaining.

The Covington City Council proclaimed this week as Doris Cooper Week at its meeting Monday night.

“We are going to read a proclamation in honor of his service to the country and recognize him for his contributions,” said Mayor Brad Crain.

Cooper has a warning for all Americans.

“Don’t let it happen again,” he said.

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