Warren Upton

Upton was born in El Dorado, California. He enlisted in the United States Navy as a teenager prior to the United States' entry into World War II, part of a generation of young servicemen who joined during the rapid military buildup of the early 1940s.^[1]

Upton was assigned to the battleship USS Utah (BB-31), which was moored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. During the Japanese attack, Utah was struck by torpedoes and capsized within minutes.^[2]

Upton survived by escaping the overturned vessel under hazardous conditions. Sixty-four crew members were killed aboard Utah, many of whom remain entombed within the ship, which is now a designated war grave.^[3]

Following the attack, Upton continued to serve in the Navy as a radioman throughout World War II before being discharged at the conclusion of the conflict. He later served again during the Korean War.^[4]

After the war, Upton returned to civilian life and later settled in California. In his later years, he became active in public education and remembrance efforts, frequently speaking at schools, museums, and memorial events about his experiences at Pearl Harbor and the importance of historical memory.^[5]

As the number of living Pearl Harbor survivors declined, Upton gained national recognition as one of the final firsthand witnesses to the attack, often emphasizing the lesser-known loss of the USS Utah compared with other ships sunk that day.^[1]

Warren Upton died on 25 December 2024 at a hospital in Los Gatos, California, at the age of 105, after a period of illness with pneumonia.^[1][2] At the time of his death, he was widely reported to be the last surviving crew member of the USS Utah and among the final living survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack.^[3]