Illinois native who braved flaming waters at Pearl Harbor to save his fellow sailors has died
A Macomb native who witnessed the Pearl Harbor attack and then spent horrific hours diving into the flaming waters to try to save his fellow sailors has died. Sterling Cale was 102.
Cale died on Jan. 20, 2024, the last survivor of the attack still living in Hawaii, his obituary stated. He spent 57 years in military and government service. He also authored a memoir, “A True American: The Story of a Pearl Harbor Survivor, World War II, Korean and Vietnam War Veteran.”
From the archives: A hardscrabble life
The Peoria Journal Star profiled Cale after his 100th birthday, in 2021, 80 years after the attack. At that time, it was estimated there were fewer than 100 remaining Pearl Harbor survivors.
Cale "never knew the details of his earliest days, which began Nov. 29, 1921, in Macomb," the story read. He lived in orphanages there and in nearby Colchester until age 4, when he was adopted by Earl and Maidia Cale. The family lived a hardscrabble life, including sharecropping outside Galesburg.
Hawaii felt like heaven. Hell soon arrived
While still a teen, Cale joined the Navy. He took pharmacy training and chose assignment to Hawaii, as he "shuddered with memories of frigid childhood winters in central Illinois. ... It felt like heaven. Hell wouldn’t come for a few more months," the story read.
Cale was filling prescriptions in the U.S. Naval Hospital on Dec. 7, 1941. While walking home, he glimpsed Battleship Row and saw "a slew of planes overhead." He considered that it might be a drill, but then paused. "That's strange," he thought to himself. "We don't train on Sunday."
Cale peered more closely as the planes bore down on the battleships. His eyes widened as he spotted red circles on the wings and fuselages. "My God!" he said. "Those are Japanese planes!"
As aerial torpedoes plummeted down, Cale watched in horror as they struck the USS Oklahoma. "Twelve minutes after the attack began, the ship rolled over, her masts touching bottom," the story read.
'The water was on fire'
Cale and others rushed toward the Oklahoma to help rescue the wounded as oil leaked from the ship and burned in the harbor. "It was very difficult," Cale later told the Journal Star. "The water was on fire."
Cale, who had some training as a frogman, dove repeatedly into the water, trying to save others. "A lot of the men were dead already," he recalled. "A few times I got lucky and got to throw a rope to (survivors)." Over four hours, the story read, Cale pulled out 46 men. He never knew how many lived. All told, 429 aboard the Oklahoma died.
Days later, Cale and others were tasked with finding the remains of crewmen still inside the sunken USS Arizona. They retrieved the remains of 109. All told on the Arizona, 1,177 men died.
Aftermath
A year after the attack, Cale married. He and his wife raised two children. Cale later transferred to the Army. He served in both Korea and Vietnam.
In 2005, he started volunteering at the USS Arizona Memorial, talking to visitors about his experiences on Dec. 7, 1941. He always honored requests for his autograph, the Journal Star reported, above which he would scrawl the word "Illinois" and say, "That's where I'm from!"
More: 'The water was on fire': 100-year-old Macomb native survived Pearl Harbor, one of few left
Services and remembrances
Services for Sterling Cale are to be held March 7 at Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery. He will be buried alongside his wife, Victoria.
Photos and memories of Cale can be found at the Pacific Historic Parks - USS Arizona Memorial Facebook page.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Illinois man who braved Pearl Harbor to save fellow sailors has died
