WWII veteran, thought to be oldest survivor of Pearl Harbor attack, dies at 103 Robin Opsahl, Des Moines Register Pearl Harbor service, sacrifice honored at ceremony Replay Video UP NEXT DES MOINES, Iowa – A World War II veteran thought to be the oldest survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack died last month at 103. Clayton Schenkelberg, who was born in 1917 in Iowa and joined the U.S. Navy in 1937, died in a senior care facility April 14 in San Diego. Schenkelberg was no stranger to hardships in his early life. Various news stories through the years referred to the struggles he faced even before Pearl Harbor: His mother died when he was 9 years old, the Great Depression hit when he was 12, and his father was killed in an accident when he was 17.