Remembering the U.S.S. Utah

The U.S.S. Utah sank in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The ship and its crew are now being remembered and honored at a program marking the 100th anniversary of the laying of the battleship’s keel. Following is an excerpt from an article in the March 3, 2009 edition of the Deseret News.

Warren Upton will never forget the ship named after this state. He managed to get off the USS Utah after the ship was torpedoed at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. When he finally climbed the ladders and reached the main deck that Sunday morning, he said, “The ship was beginning to list a little more” and Japanese planes were “strafing heavily.”

Upton, now 89, had planned to travel from his home in San Jose, Calif., to Salt Lake City for a reception to be held on March 9 marking the 100th anniversary of the laying of the battleship’s keel. However, he said, his wife has a medical appointment that will prevent his attending.

William Hughes, 87, another survivor from the Utah on that 1941 day of infamy, will be at the reception, scheduled from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Capitol rotunda. Hughes, who lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, told the Deseret News that he believes about 40 survivors may be still living.

The USS Utah Association held its first reunion in Salt Lake City in June 1988, Hughes said. “I cannot explain what a thrill it was seeing old shipmates,” he said. Other reunions also were held in Utah, he added.

An exhibit of art, photographs and artifacts of the USS Utah will be available for public viewing for several months starting March 9. The display, planned by the Capitol Preservation Board and the Fort Douglas Military Museum, will be on the fourth floor of the Capitol.

The reception and exhibition are sponsored by Ancestry.com, the genealogical research site.

Read the full article.