BRIDGE CITY, Texas — From the fallen to stories of survival, one Southeast Texas veteran is said to be one of the last living Pearl Harbor survivors.
100-year-old Cedric Stout lives in Bridge City and is still very active. He’s one of the last known Pearl Harbor survivors in Southeast Texas.
Stout was a motor machinist second class aboard the USS Utah when Pearl Harbor was bombed.
He was just 20 years old.
Surrounded by explosions and chaos, Stout fought to get out alive. Stout's crew lost 64 members.
He shares what he remembers from that day.
"And I put my head through the porthole, and a bullet flew right past my head. This ain't fun, baloney. There is something wrong, and by that time there was a torpedo, two torpedoes, and two bombs that hit the ship and it started going down,” Stout said.
This is how Stout says he managed to get out of harm’s way. He found a line holding the ship to shore and swam to safety.