Cloquet's Last Pearl Harbor Survivor Dies

From the September 19, 2013 Pine (Minnesota) Journal by Wendy Johnson and Jane Peterson.

Gordon "Gordy" Caza made his last public appearance at Cloquet's 4th of July parade this past summer. He died Sunday, September 15th.

Mr. Caza enlisted in the Army at age 17 and was sworn in at Fort Snelling and shipped to California then to Hawaii where he was assigned to a truck company.

In September 1941, he was stationed at Fort Armstrong in downtown Honolulu, about five miles from Pearl Harbor.

He was going to breakfast when an alert went off. He thought it was part of a routine maneuver. Once they knew it was an attack, they grabbed rifles and ammunition and headed for the parade ground.

Two Japanese planes flew over them strafing as they went.

The next day, he went to the Punch Bowl, site of an ammunition depot and hauled ammunition to Pearl Harbor where he saw the incredible damage and destruction.

--GreGen