Bob Fernandez, a 100-year-old survivor of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, died shortly after deteriorating health prompted him to skip a trip to Hawaii to attend last week’s remembrance ceremony marking the 83rd anniversary of the attack.

Fernandez died peacefully at the Lodi, California, home of his nephew, Joe Guthrie, on Wednesday. Guthrie’s daughter, Halie Torrrell, was holding his hand when he took his last breath. Fernandez had suffered a stroke about a month ago that caused him to slow down, but Guthrie said doctors attributed his condition to age.

“It was his time,” Guthrie said.

Fernandez was a 17-year-old sailor on board the USS Curtiss during the 7 December 1941 attack that propelled the US into the second world war. A mess cook, he was waiting tables and bringing sailors morning coffee and food when they heard an alarm sound. Through a porthole, Fernandez saw a plane fly by with the red ball insignia known to be painted on Japanese aircraft.

He rushed down three decks to a magazine room where he and other sailors waited for someone to unlock a door storing shells so they could pass them to the ship’s guns. He told interviewers over the years that some of his fellow sailors were praying and crying as they heard gunfire above.

“I felt kind of scared because I didn’t know what the hell was going on,” Fernandez told the Associated Press in an interview weeks before his death.

Fernandez’s ship lost 21 men, and nearly 60 of its sailors were injured. The bombing killed more than 2,300 US servicemen. Nearly half, or 1,177, were sailors and Marines on board the USS Arizona, which sank during the battle.

“We lost a lot of good people, you know. They didn’t do nothing,” Fernandez said. “But we never know what’s going to happen in a war.”

Fernandez had been planning to return to Pearl Harbor last week to attend an annual commemoration hosted by the navy and the National Park Service but became too weak to make the trip, Guthrie said.

He was “so proud” of his six years in the navy, all of it aboard the USS Curtiss, Guthrie said. Most of his casual clothes, like hats and shirts, were related to his service.

“It was just completely ingrained in him,” his nephew said.

Fernandez worked as a forklift driver at a cannery in San Leandro, California, after the war. His wife of 65 years, Mary Fernandez, died in 2014.

He enjoyed music and dancing, and until recently attended weekly music performances at a local park and a restaurant. He helped neighbors in his trailer park take care of their yards until he moved in with Guthrie last year.

“I’d do yard work and split firewood and he’d swing the axe a little bit,” Guthrie said. “We’d call it his physical therapy.”

Fernandez’s advice for living a long life included stopping eating once he was full and marching up stairs. He said it was OK to take a nap, but to do something like laundry or wash dishes before going to bed. He recommended being kind to everyone.

Guthrie said he thinks Fernandez would want to be remembered for bringing people joy.

“He would rake people’s yards if they couldn’t do it. He would paint a fence. He would help somebody,” Guthrie said. “He would give people money if they needed something. He was so generous and such a kind person. He made friends everywhere.”

Fernandez is survived by his oldest son, Robert J Fernandez, a granddaughter and several great-grandchildren.

There are 16 known survivors of Pearl Harbor who are still alive, according to a list maintained by Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. All of them are at least 100 years old.

Fernandez’s death would have brought the number to 15 but Farley recently learned of an additional survivor.

This article was amended on 14 December 2024. The 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor happened on 7 December, not 17 December as an earlier version said owing to our error during editing.