Oldest Pearl Harbor survivor is keeping memory of the surprise bombing alive at 106

Freeman Johnson, a 106-year-old resident of Centerville, Massachusetts, is helping keep the memory of Pearl Harbor alive as the number of surviving eyewitnesses grows smaller.

The Associated Press reported on Sunday, May 24, 2026, that Johnson is the oldest living Pearl Harbor survivor. He served aboard the USS St. Louis during the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941.

According to the AP, Johnson was below deck repairing a boiler when the assault began and did not directly see the bombing. Even so, the experience became part of the historical record he has carried into old age.

Johnson's story has also been documented by the National Park Service, the U.S. Navy and Pacific Historic Parks, which has an oral history page for him. Local coverage earlier this year also identified him as the oldest living Pearl Harbor survivor.

The AP feature arrives as the generation that experienced Pearl Harbor firsthand continues to fade. Johnson's recollections now serve as a living link to one of the defining attacks of World War II.

The story underscores how surviving witnesses are becoming rarer, even as remembrance events and oral histories continue to preserve what they saw and heard.