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The powerful blast first entered the director through the starboard hatchway, where Dvorak sat—in a direct line with the incoming fireball—hands tight on his steering wheel’s brodie knobs. The concussion and fireball hit him first—full force—while it raced starboard to port. As if a rag doll, Dvorak was at once lifted from his position, and slammed back, hard, against his fixed metal seat. The force then caught Stratton in the face and chest; grabbed and slammed him against the bulkhead and, according to Stratton, “…rattled me around like a piñata.” “I thought I was going blind, from the fire”, Stratton would tell Lauren, years later. On the platform, Zeke had already decided to head back inside. He managed to grab hold of the hatchway handles just as the blast raced through and circumnavigated the director. The force of the concussion hit him in the back, and face-on. As if a spirit’s presence had seized his body, it grabbed at Zimmerman’s torso and bent him forward, then backwards. The impact ripped his grip from the door handles, sucked him into the flames, and dispatched him, hard, against the platform’s railing. Inside, Hollowell was propelled backwards, across the steel cube. His head slammed against the range finder with a forceful blow, and his body was dumped next to Lott—who had pulled Lauren’s blanket tighter across his own head. The hellish fireball had sucked oxygen from the cube, shot across the steel shell, and merged with a second blast of flames through the port and rear hatchways. As if in a boxing match—in a futile attempt to protect his face from being hit by the fire and heat—Lauren held tight to the range finder. Instinct caused him to raise his right arm around the viewport, for protection.
”
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Edward McGrath (Second to the Last to Leave USS Arizona - SIGNED Copy - Interactive Edition: Memoir of a Sailor - The Lauren F. Bruner Story)