(WATERBURY, CONN. – May 22, 2009) - Thirty students from Wallace Middle School’s FOCUS Program participated in a videoconference with Pearl Harbor survivor and World War II veteran Sterling R. Cale, SGM, US Army (Retired) on May 15. Speaking from Hawaii, Cale, who is also a veteran of the Korean conflict, recounted his experiences as a young man who witnessed the attack and helped in the aftermath.
Marilyn Porzio, FOCUS teacher, coordinated the videoconference at the Adult Education Center in Waterbury. She worked with Paul Heintz, the Education Director of the USS Arizona Memorial Museum in Hawaii. Dave Rosa, a social studies teacher at Wallace, had presented an in-depth overview of the events leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor to prepare the students for the event.
The videoconference was part of seventh-grader Nick Olan’s independent study. Nick said he was impressed that Cale could recap the experience from so long ago. He said the most memorable part of the presentation was Cale’s description of the attack. “He thought it was just a drill, but he knew they wouldn’t have a drill on a Sunday morning, and then he saw the red circles on the wings of the planes and knew it was an attack,” Nick recalled.
Porzio said all her students seemed equally impressed. "The students saw this historical attack through the eyes of someone who experienced it first-hand, thus offering a deeper respect for the celebrations of Memorial Day and Veterans Day," Porzio said. "To witness this hero forming connections with my students was very moving."
Photo: (Front row, left to right): Patricia Myer, Brandon Vega, Nick Olan. (Second row, left to right): Selmon Rafey, Greg Nicholson, Kevin Malley.
