Warren Upton, the oldest known survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack, has died at the age of 105. He died on December 25, 2024, in a hospital in Los Gatos, California, following a bout of pneumonia, according to Kathleen Farley, California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.
The USS Utah, a battleship stationed at Pearl Harbor, was among the many targets of the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941 — an event that drew the United States into World War II. Upton, who was just 22 at the time, recounted in a 2020 interview that he had been preparing to shave when the first torpedo struck the ship. A second torpedo followed shortly after, causing the ship to drown.
In the chaos, Upton swam ashore to Ford Island, where he sought cover in a trench to avoid Japanese planes strafing the area. “I stayed there for about 30 minutes until a truck came and picked us up,” he had recalled.
Despite the harrowing experience, Upton often shared his story, though what troubled him most was losing his shipmates over the years. By 2020, only three members of the USS Utah’s crew, including Upton, were still alive. Now, his death leaves just 15 known survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack, according to military historian J. Michael Wenger.
Born in 1918, Upton lived through a century of change, carrying with him the legacy of a day that forever altered the course of history.
The attack on Pearl Harbor, in which Japanese planes rained fire, took place on December 7, 1941. It marked a defining moment in US history. By the time the attack ended, 2,333 Americans were dead and 1,139 were injured. Historians point to three missed tactical warnings that could have given the fleet critical time to brace for the Japanese strike. Until that day, the US had held onto hopes for peace, but the attack propelled the nation into war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt aptly captured its significance, calling it a day “that will live in infamy.”
