Sterling Robert Cale, a Pearl Harbor survivor who served the United States throughout World War II, and also in Korea and Vietnam, and then met thousands of visitors as a volunteer at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, died Jan. 20 at his home in Aiea. He was 102.
Cale’s son, Sterling Ventula Cale, remembered him as “a humble leader.”
“He is the reason I am the man I am. Growing up with my father gave me that foundation. He taught me all the things that later on I would use in my military career for 23 years, and beyond.”
“My mother used to get so mad at him because he’d give me a loaded .45 (pistol) to hold, or he’d show me how protective masking worked, but when I became an NBC NCO (Nuclear Biological Chemical warfare Non-Commissioned Office) I was one of only two guys in the entire platoon who know how to react going through a (simulated) chemical battlefield. Those are the things that I remember him for, and they did well for me, and then for me and my troops later in life.”
Sterling Robert Cale was born and raised on a farm in Illinois. He enlisted in the Navy after high school and scored so high while training as a pharmacist mate that he was given his choice of duty station.
Cale chose Hawaii.
On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Cale had just gone off duty after an overnight shift as a hospital corpsman at the Pearl Harbor dispensary when he heard gunfire and saw puffs of smoke. At first he thought it was surprise training…
