LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lake County's last survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack marked his birthday on Tuesday.
Bill Slater of Lakeport, who turned 92, celebrated by having lunch with a group of friends.
His friends Ronnie and Janeane Bogner of Clearlake Oaks, honorary members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association's local chapter and organizers of the annual Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony, hosted the Tuesday lunch for Slater.
Slater, who had spent some of his youth in an orphanage, was a 17-year-old sailor aboard the USS Pennsylvania when the ship was among those targeted in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
He and his family came to Lake County and made it their home decades later.
This year will mark the 75th anniversary of the attack. The Bogners took Slater to Hawaii for a previous anniversary event and are considering taking another trip this year.
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County's last Pearl Harbor survivor celebrates birthday
- Elizabeth Larson
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