HONOLULU — Howard Kenton “Ken” Potts, one of the two remaining survivors of the USS Arizona battleship that sank during the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday. He was 102.

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Potts died in Provo, Utah, a week after celebrating his 102nd birthday, Hawaii News Now reported. His death leaves only Lou Conter as the only survivor from the USS Arizona. Conter is 101 and lives in California, according to Stars & Stripes.

The National Park Service authorized the flag over the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor to be flown at half-staff through April 28, according to the news outlet.

Randy Stratton, whose late father, Donald Stratton, was Potts’ Arizona shipmate and close friend, told The Associated Press that Potts “had all his marbles” when he spoke with him last week but was having difficulty getting out of bed.

“But he knew that his body was kind of shutting down on him, and he was just hoping that he could get better but (it) turned out not,” Stratton said.

Potts enlisted in the Navy on Oct. 4, 1939, according to online military records. After the attack by the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941, Potts was transferred to the USS Tennessee, according to the National Archives.

Potts was subsequently assigned to the port director’s office, where he served until the end of World War II, Stars & Stripes reported.

According to military and census records, Potts was born in Honey Bend, an unincorporated area north of Litchfield, Illinois.

According to the Utah National Guard’s website in 2021, Potts was a boatswain mate working as a crane operator bringing supplies onto the USS Arizona when it was strafed by Japanese planes.

Potts used his boat to shuttle sailors thrown into the water and move them to Ford Island, the National Guard wrote. He was in the harbor when the battleship exploded.

“I still see and feel it,” Potts said. “Most times as a nightmare.

“It was unbelievable how it could happen. It was turmoil. The whole place was on fire. The water was burning because the oil was on fire.”

The USS Arizona sank nine minutes after being bombed, according to the AP. There were 1,177 crew members killed; the battleship remains at the same spot where it sank in 1941, along with more than 900 dead still entombed inside the vessel.

Potts was one of 355 crew members who survived the attack, according to Stars & Stripes.

“My best day in the Navy is when I survived Dec. 7, 1941,” Potts told photographer D. Clarke Evans in 2014, according to Stars & Stripes. “It was also my worst day.”