- Warren Upton, the oldest living survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the last remaining survivor of the USS Utah, has died at the age of 105.
- On December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft began bombing the American naval base, pushing the United States into World War II.
- According to military historian J. Michael Wenger, about 87,000 military personnel were on Oahu on the day of the attack. After Upton’s death, only 15 remain alive.
Warren Upton, the oldest living survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the last remaining survivor of the USS Utah, has died. He was 105.
Upton died Wednesday at a hospital in Los Gatos, California, after suffering from pneumonia, said Kathleen Farley, the California state president of the Sons and Daughters of California Pearl Harbor survivors.
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The battleship Utah was anchored in Pearl Harbor when Japanese aircraft began bombing the naval base in Hawaii in the early hours of December 7, 1941, in support of the United States into the Second World War.
Warren Upton sits for a portrait with his daughter Barbara Upton at his home in San Jose, California on November 26, 2021. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group via AP)
Upton told the Associated Press in 2020 that he was shaving when he felt the first torpedo hit the Utah. He recalled that no one on board knew what caused the ship to shake. Then the second torpedo hit and the ship began to flip and capsize.
The then 22-year-old swam ashore to Ford Island, where he jumped into a ditch to escape Japanese planes bomb the area. He stayed for about 30 minutes until a truck came and took him to safety.
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Upton said he didn’t mind talking about what happened during the attack. Rather, he was annoyed that he kept losing shipmates over the years. As of 2020, only three crew members of the Utah were still alive, including himself.
According to military historian J. Michael Wenger, an estimated 87,000 military personnel were on Oahu on the day of the attack. After Upton’s death, only 15 remain alive.
