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Sterling Cale, 1943.

Sterling Cale
Pharmicist Mate 2c - December 7, 1941

Sterling Cale was born in Macomb, Illinois on November 29, 1921. He enlisted for Lighter-Than-Air Training (Dirigibles) at Lakehurst, New Jersey. When the German blimp, von Hindenburg, exploded and burned the Navy Department cancelled the program. As a result, Sterling graduated as a hospital pharmacist’s mate (Corpsman) from the naval school in San Diego, California.

He was assigned to the U.S. Naval Hospital at “C” Landing located at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawai’i. PhM2c Cale was transferred to the shipyard dispensary in July of 1941. On the morning of December 7, 1941, PhM2c Cale completed night duty. He arrived at the receiving station around 7:00 a.m., signed out with the master-at-arms, and went outside. In less than an hour he noticed planes diving on Battleship Row. Initially PhM2c Cale decided it was another mock attack until suddenly a plane turned off to the right granting PhM2c Cale a glimpse of the “Rising Sun” on the wing tips and fuselage. He gasped as he said, “My God, those are Japanese planes! We are being attacked!” Six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor PhM2c Cale was placed in charge of the burial detail responsible for removing the bodies off of the USS Arizona.

Mr. Cale spent WWII with the 1 st Marine Division at Guadalcanal. He transferred to the U.S. Army in 1948. From 1950-1951, Mr. Cale carried out his duty assignment with the 5 th Regimental Combat Team in Korea. From 1955-1974, Mr. Cale spent his duty time in Vietnam first as an Army Sergeant Major and later as a civilian State Department employee. During this time frame Mr. Cale carried out intermediate assignments to the defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.

Mr. Cale graduated with an MBA from Chaminade University in 1975. In Match 2005, he retired with 57 years of government service. He started volunteering at the USS Arizona Memorial shortly after his retirement. Mr. Cale has been an active participant in the Pearl Harbor Survivor Series part of the Witness to History videoconferencing program. This series enables students on both a national and international level to learn about the December 7 th attack by directly communicating with Survivors.