RINER-EARL

SURVIVED  USS  ARIZONA  SINKING

DECEMBER 7, 1941

Gunners Mate Third Class Earl William Riner, although seriously injured, was one of the fortunate survivors of the sinking on December 7, 1941 of the battleship USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  Historical records reflect that 335 survived, and 1,177 officers and men were killed when Japanese planes sank the ship.  Riner was born on December 5, 1921 in Atoka, Oklahoma.  Immediately after his high school graduation in Lehigh, Oklahoma, he enlisted in the Navy. 

When the attack commenced, GM3 Riner sprinted to his battle station located in the Antiaircraft Fire Control Director, a metal box like compartment located on a mast about 70-feet above the water.  Here, crewmembers operated the equipment that directed antiaircraft guns against attacking planes.  Quickly, Riner and his companions directed volleys of antiaircraft fire against the Japanese planes.  However, their guns were often ineffective as torpedo bombers were too low for the guns and almost two miles above, the dive bombers were higher than the Arizona’s antiaircraft guns could reach. 

A short nine minutes into the battle, at 8:09am an armor-piercing bomb, dropped from high above, struck the forward area of Arizona’s bow, penetrated four steel decks to the ammunition magazine, and exploded there with a huge blast.  The blast blew the Number One turret into the air, a plume of black smoke rose, and an expanding fireball shot five to six hundred feet into the air.  The Fire Control Director was engulfed in flames as the men took shelter as best they could behind the equipment and used their hands to cover mouths and eyes.  Flames engulfed the area and most of the men in the Director found their clothes were on fire, burning off most of their clothes, hair, and skin.  Soon smoke filled the compartment, filling nostrils, throats and lungs.  The compartment suddenly became claustrophobic and two of the men bolted out a hatch to escape, never to be seen again.  As others felt their way along the metal walls, the heat scorched their palms, and the metal floor was so hot they felt the heat through the soles of their shoes.

Somehow the remaining men, including GM3 Riner, managed to exit the Fire Control Director and once on deck the group of six managed to attract the attention of a Chief Petty Officer aboard USS Vestal, tied up alongside, who threw them a rope over the burning sea sixty feet below.  Historical records reflect that Riner said, “Hell, the whole world is on fire,” which it looked like it was.  After the rope was tied to a railing, the least injured of the group was chosen to attempt the perilous task of grasping the line hand over burned hand, to proceed to Vestal over the flaming water below them.  The task became particularly difficult after passing the half way mark as the rope sagged from their weight and the incline increased.  When the first man successfully reached Vestal, the others followed him to safety.  Unfortunately, one of the men died several days later from the burns he had received.  Riner was hospitalized for several months because of his severe burns and after the experience he always referred to 12/7/1941 as his Second Birthday for being able to stay alive. 

In 1944, Riner returned to sea aboard the USS Lake Champlain.  He was released from the Navy following World War Two and worked as a civilian employee at Perrin Air Force Station in Texas.  He died on March 9, 2012 and was buried with military honors at Georgetown Cemetery in Denison, Texas.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)