Divers donned vintage hardhat suits to send off USS Arizona crew member Lauren Bruner on Dec. 7. Video courtesy National Park Service and U.S. Department of Defense
Divers from the Army conducted a unique and poignant internment when they lowered an urn containing the ashes of Lauren Bruner into the wreck of the USS Arizona. Lauren Bruner, who served on the USS Arizona, escaped being burned in the attack on the 7th of December 1941 by clambering along a rope suspended 70 feet above the harbor.
The interment took place on the 78th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbour. Mr. Bruner died aged 98 on the 10th of September 2019. Divers from the 7th Engineer Division donned vintage World War II diving kit just like the equipment that was worn by hundreds of divers as they conducted the salvage and recovery of bodies following the attack on Pearl Harbour.
The cumbersome dry suit and lead boots weigh in at around 200 pounds, and the Mark 5 diving helmet added considerably to the weight the divers had to manage before getting into the water.