Warren Upton, the oldest living survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, dies at 105

Warren Upton, the oldest living survivor of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the last remaining survivor of the USS Utah, has died at 105 years old.

Upton died Wednesday at a hospital in Los Gatos, Calif. after suffering a bout of pneumonia, said Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.

The Utah, a battleship, was moored at Pearl Harbor when Japanese planes began bombing the Hawaii naval base in the early hours of Dec. 7, 1941, in an attack that propelled the US into World War II.

Warren Upton sits for a portrait with his daughter Barbara Upton at his home in San Jose, Calif., on Nov. 26, 2021 AP

Upton told The Associated Press in 2020 that he had been getting ready to shave when he felt the first torpedo hit the Utah.

He recalled that no one on board knew what made the ship shake.

Then, the second torpedo hit and the ship began to list and capsize.

The then-22-year-old swam ashore to Ford Island, where he jumped in a trench to avoid Japanese planes strafing the area.

He stayed for about 30 minutes until a truck came and took him to safety.

Warren Upton was about to shave when a torpedo hit his battleship during the 1941 attacks. AP
Warren Upton was 105 years old. AP
Upton died after suffering from a bout of pneumonia. AP

Upton said he didn’t mind talking about what happened during the attack. Instead, what upset him was that he kept losing shipmates over the years.

By 2020, only three crew members of the Utah were still alive, including himself.

There were an estimated 87,000 military personnel on Oahu on the day of the attack, according to military historian J. Michael Wenger.

After Upton’s death, there are only 15 still alive.