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

HONOLULU -- Warren Upton, the oldest surviving subsister of the 1941 Japanese onslaught connected Pearl Harbor and the past remaining subsister of the USS Utah, has died. He was 105.

Upton died Wednesday astatine a infirmary successful Los Gatos, California, aft suffering a bout of pneumonia, said Kathleen Farley, the California authorities seat of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.

The Utah, a battleship, was moored astatine Pearl Harbor erstwhile Japanese planes began bombing the Hawaii naval basal successful the aboriginal hours of Dec. 7, 1941, successful an onslaught that propelled the U.S. into World War II.

FILE - 100-year-old Veteran Warren Upton, from the USS Utah, left, with Navy Chief Joseph Mariani, right, astatine the Pearl Harbor National Memorial connected Dec. 7, 2019 successful Honolulu, Hawaii.

Photo by Kat Wade/Getty Images

Upton told The Associated Press successful 2020 that helium had been getting acceptable to shave erstwhile helium felt the archetypal torpedo deed the Utah. He recalled that nary 1 connected committee knew what made the vessel shake. Then, the 2nd torpedo deed and the vessel began to database and capsize.

The then-22-year-old swam ashore to Ford Island, wherever helium jumped successful a trench to debar Japanese planes strafing the area. He stayed for astir 30 minutes until a motortruck came and took him to safety.

Upton said helium didn't caput talking astir what happened during the attack. Instead, what upset him was that helium kept losing shipmates implicit the years. By 2020, determination were lone 3 unit members of the Utah inactive alive, including himself.

There were an estimated 87,000 subject unit connected Oahu connected the time of the attack, according to subject historiographer J. Michael Wenger. After Upton's death, determination are lone 15 inactive alive.