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Upton died Wednesday at a hospital in Los Gatos, California,
after suffering a bout of pneumonia, said Kathleen Farley, the
California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor
Survivors.
The Utah, a battleship, was moored at Pearl Harbor when Japanese
planes began bombing the Hawaii naval base in the early hours of
Dec. 7, 1941, in an attack that propelled the U.S. into World
War II.
Upton told The Associated Press in 2020 that he had been getting
ready to shave when he felt the first torpedo hit the Utah. He
recalled that no one on board knew what made the ship shake.
Then, the second torpedo hit and the ship began to list and
capsize.
The then-22-year-old swam ashore to Ford Island, where he jumped
in a trench to avoid Japanese planes strafing the area. He
stayed for about 30 minutes until a truck came and took him to
safety.
Upton said he didn't mind talking about what happened during the
attack. Instead, what upset him was that he kept losing
shipmates over the years. By 2020, there were only three crew
members of the Utah still alive, including himself.
There were an estimated 87,000 military personnel on Oahu on the
day of the attack, according to military historian J. Michael
Wenger. After Upton's death, there are only 15 still alive.
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