S1c Clarence Merton Caskey

Clarence Merton Caskey was a member of the Sea Scouts in Port Angeles, Washington, when he was a child.

The Sea Scouts, an affiliate of the Boy Scouts, teaches boating skills. Port Angeles is south of Vancouver Island on the Strait of San Juan de Fuca.

Mr. Caskey, born Sept. 18, 1921 in Sequim, Washington, joined the Navy on Oct. 10, 1939. He was a seaman 1st class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

His father, Earl, an Army veteran of World War I, was a shingle sawyer. His mother Nellie Mae Draper Caskey was a homemaker.

By the time of the 1930 Census the family lived just west of Sequim at Carlsborg, Washington. Clarence attended school nearby at Port Angeles, Washington.

A plaque in memory of Mr. Caskey and three other Port Angeles war dead was installed at their old elementary school, Lincoln, in 1957. There is a cenotaph in his memory at Mount Angeles Memorial Park at Port Angeles. His father is buried there.

Sources: Port Angeles Evening News; Census; Navy muster rolls. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.