The oldest U.S. military survivor of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor that plunged the United States into World War II has died at age 106.
Ray Chavez’s daughter, Kathleen Chavez of Poway, California, tells The Associated Press her father died in his sleep Wednesday.
Chavez had visited Washington in May where he was honored by President Donald Trump during Memorial Day services.
He was assigned to the minesweeper USS Condor when Japanese war planes bombed Pearl Harbor.
Hours before the attack, he and others had spotted a Japanese submarine near the harbor and notified a destroyer, which sunk it.
Soon after, his ship docked, and he returned to his nearby home. Minutes later, he would race back to the harbor when Japanese warplanes began to attack.
According to the San Diego Herald-Mail, Chavez was born in San Bernardino in 1911 and grew up in San Diego.
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