The oldest survivor of the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Warren “Red” Upton, died last December in Los Gatos, California, after a battle with pneumonia. He was 105.
In addition to being the oldest of the Pearl Harbor attack’s survivors, Upton had been the last remaining survivor of the USS Utah (AG-16). The former Florida-class dreadnought battleship (BB-31) had been redesignated as a target ship as per the terms of the London Naval Treaty and was moored at Pearl Harbor when Japanese aircraft made their deadly descent on the Hawaiian naval base, precipitating the United States’ entry into World War II.
In a 2020 interview with the Associated Press, Upton recounted how he had been just about to shave when the Utah was shaken by a sudden impact. And when the second Japanese torpedo hit its mark, the sailors fully realized they were under attack.
As the old battleship took on water and began to go under, the 22-year-old radio operator managed to get free of her and swim across the oil-slicked harbor to Ford Island. There he found cover in a trench as the Japanese onslaught continued from above until, after half an hour, a truck picked him up and whisked him to safety.
It has been estimated that approximately 87,000 U.S. military personnel were at Oahu on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack—and that now, with Red Upton’s passing, only 15 still remain with us.
