In this post, I offer my thoughts on the passing of Warren
Upton, the oldest survivor of the attacks on Pearl Harbor,
and our need to study history so we don’t repeat its
atrocities.

Quietly, on Christmas Day 2024, Warren “Red” Upton of San Jose, California, passed away at the incredible age of 105. Mr. Upton was the oldest survivor of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, and the last remaining crew member of the USS Utah. There was some media coverage of his death, but not enough to recognize him and all who served at Pearl Harbor. The attacks that day killed 2,403 American service members and civilians, injured another 1,000 people, and marked the entrance of the United States of America into World War Two.

The story of Pearl Harbor is something everyone should study and remember.

There are now just 15 remaining survivors from Pearl Harbor. As this number inevitably dwindles, I am reminded of the famous quote by the Spanish philosopher George Santayana, who said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”¹ Noted historian Dr. Peter N. Stearns said, “History should be studied because it is essential to individuals and to society…history helps us understand people and societies, history helps us understand change and how the society we live in came to be, history contributes to moral understanding, history provides identity, and studying history is essential for good citizenship.”²

The Holocaust is a good example of the need to study history so as to not repeat it. According to the Claims Conference Demographic Report, as of one year ago (January 2024), there were approximately 245,000 Holocaust survivors alive globally in more than 90 countries. Forty-nine percent reside in Israel and 18 percent in North America.³ With a median age of 86 and more than twenty percent of the survivors over age 90, this group of people is also rapidly decreasing. 

The Associated Press reported, “Six million European Jews and people from other minorities were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust.”⁴ Yet, there are those who deny it ever happened – so many, in fact, that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance developed an official working definition of Holocaust distortion and denial, as follows: “Holocaust denial is discourse and propaganda that deny the historical reality and the extent of the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis and their accomplices during World War II, known as the Holocaust or the Shoah. Holocaust denial refers specifically to any attempt to claim that the Holocaust/Shoah did not take place.”⁵ The intent of such denial and distortion is to promote societal and political ideologies and conditions ripe for such an atrocity to repeat itself.

Let that sink in…and focus on learning history and teaching it to your families. There are so many great resources to help you in this regard…

You can get started by researching and sharing information from the National Park Service Pearl Harbor National Memorial < https://www.nps.gov/perl/index.htm >, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum < https://www.usa.gov/agencies/holocaust-memorial-museum >, and the History Channel < https://www.history.com/ >. 

So, rest easy, Mr. Upton, and thank you for your service. It will not be forgotten.

REMEMBER…

◊ The American poet Maya Angelou said, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”⁶

◊ Visit www.davidajolley.com for additional blog posts and other interesting content.

1. www.brainyquote.com/authors/george-santayana-quotes ↩︎
2. Stearns, Peter N., Perspectives in History: Why Study History?, American Historical Association, 1998, 2020, https://www.historians.org/resource/why-study-history-1998/ ↩︎
3. https://www.claimscon.org/demographics/ ↩︎
4. https://apnews.com/article/holocaust-survivors-numbers-report-claims-conference-890c9ad6aa7bc1cf99e1cbe40e61c013 ↩︎
5.  https://www.state.gov/defining-holocaust-distortion-and-denial/ ↩︎
6. “Maya Angelou Quotes.” BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2025. 6 January 2025. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/maya_angelou_387255 ↩︎