Warren Upton, Oldest Living Survivor of the Pearl Harbor Attack, Dies at 105

Mar. 15, 2025

Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Allen Michael Amani/U.S. Navy via AP

Warren Upton, the oldest living survivor of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 105.

Upton’s Christmas Day death — at a hospital in Los Gatos, Calif. — followed a bout with pneumonia, Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, told theAssociated Press.

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Warren Upton photographed in December 2003.Deanne Fitzmaurice/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty

Deanne Fitzmaurice/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty

Upton was 22 when he served as a radioman on the ship before it capsized. He and others escaped and swam to Ford Island, per the Pacific Historic Parks. Upton also helped another man who couldn’t swim escape, according to the nonprofit.

Of the 58 crew members who died aboard the ship, many couldn’t escape while it rolled over. The wreck itself now marks thesite of a memorialat Pearl Harbor.

Upton continued to serve as a radioman during World War II and later started a family with wife Gene, who Pacific Historic Parks said died in 2018.

The late veteran previously told theAPin 2020 that he was about to shave before the first torpedo struck the USS Utah. He added that nobody on board understood why the ship had shaken ahead of the second torpedo, which then caused it to capsize.

The outlet, which cites military historian J. Michael Wenger, said 87,000 military personnel were on Oahu on Dec. 7, 1941, and only 15 are still alive following Upton’s death.

Upton’s death comes months afterLou Conter, a fellow Pearl Harbor survivor and the last known survivor of the USSArizona battleship, died at age 102 in April.

According to multiple local outlets, Conter had congestive heart failure and died at his home in Grass Valley, Calif.

Conter was serving as a quartermaster at the time. He was standing on the main deck of the ship when it was attacked.

The veteran later served in three wars, flew in 200 missions as a pilot and retired in 1967 after nearly 30 years in the Navy, per multiple outlets.

source: people.com