Service for Lake, Mendocino counties’ last Pearl Harbor survivor

Bill Slater was a 17-year-old sailor aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania when the sneak attack occurred.|
CHRIS SMITH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A gathering in Lakeport on Sunday bid farewell to a revered man and to an era.

The ceremony at lakeside Library Park honored Bill Slater, Lake and Mendocino counties’ last known survivor of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the U.S. into World War II.

Slater responded to the attack as a 17-year-old sailor aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania.

He died at his Lakeport home on New Year’s Eve at the age of 93.

His daughter, Leslie Slater, told the assembly alongside the park’s Pearl Harbor memorial flag mast that her highly sociable dad would have enjoyed being there.

The honors included a rifle salute by the Lake County Military Funeral Honors Team, a flag line by members of motorcycle honors organizations and the tolling of a ship’s bell in Slater’s memory.

Chris Smith is at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.

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