Shipwreck from only WWII battle in America found off Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Daryl Weathers remembers trying to pull men from the sea off Alaska's Aleutian Islands after a U.S. Navy destroyer hit a mine left by the Japanese following the only World War II battle fought on North American soil.
The explosion, which ripped the stern off the USS Abner Read, also covered many of the men in oil, which prevented some from being rescued.
"They were so slippery, you couldn't get ahold of them," the 94-year-old Weathers said this week from his home in Los Angeles.
The remaining 250 crew members made the ship watertight, and it limped back to the West Coast for repairs. Only one body among the 71 men killed was recovered.