Public memorial service planned for Lake County’s last Pearl Harbor survivor
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The community is invited to a memorial service for Lake County’s last Pearl Harbor survivor, who died late last month.
Wilbur Kenneth “Bill” Slater, 93, died on New Year’s Eve at his home in Lakeport, as Lake County News has reported.
The memorial service will take place at noon on Sunday, Jan. 14, at the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association’s Memorial Mast in Library Park, 200 Park St. in Lakeport.
Slater was a 17-year-old sailor aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania, which was in dry dock at the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the Japanese attacked on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941.
Slater and his fellow sailors aboard the Pennsylvania were among the first to return fire on the Japanese, despite a broken ammunition hoist and other challenges that morning.
In his later years, he and his wife, Helen, would make their home in Lakeport. He became a fixture at Pearl Harbor Survivors Association meetings.
That group was responsible for establishing the memorial mast in Lakeport, where Slater’s life will be celebrated this weekend.
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