CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — He was a familiar face in the Coastal Bend and longtime USS Lexington volunteer. He was also the last known survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack living in the area.
Capt. Robert "Bob" Batterson, USN (Ret.), died Friday, Aug. 11 at the age of 102.
Batterson joined the Navy in 1939 and was assigned ashore at Naval Station Pearl Harbor when the attack happened in 1941. He previously told 3NEWS he was awakened by Japanese dive bombers flying between the barracks.
"Well, we watch the Japanese just tear us apart and then we went below to see what we could do, and we were starting to take care of sailors who were being brought in," Batterson said. "They'd been picked up out of the burning oil."
He said ultimately he was assigned to fight the fires aboard the burning battleships, and by the end of the day he said it felt like the war was already lost.
He retired after 35 years of service. He then spent more than three decades volunteering at USS Lexington in Corpus Christi.
Funeral arrangements for Batterson are pending.
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