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Show Cedar Man On Saratoga During Jap Suicide Attack The announcement made by the Navy D partment early this week that the famous aircraft carrier "Saratoga had been s?verely damaged damag-ed by Jap suicide attacks, revealed I the fact that Boyd Edwards, son of Claude and Pearl Edwards of Cedar City, had participated In one of ! the greatest epics of United States ', naval history. I j Boyd, who has been a member of the famous ship's crew since he, l entered combat duty, was home on leave recently while the Saratoga was in the Puget Sound navy yard for repairs, but of course, official announcement of the damage to his ship had not been mad? and his friends were not aware of the fact that he had gone through one cf the most s vere attacks a U. S. ship had ever survived. . The famous old ship was damaged on the second day of the Invasion of Iwo Jima. but the fact was net ; rev aled until the ship had been ' completely repaired and was back in action again. Boyd is back on the "Sara" and It is understood Is back In the thick cf the battle ' again. J The 33,000-ton Saratoga, th1 navv's oldest, end the heavest carrier yet I to see action, suffer d 315 casual-; casual-; ties when she took seven direct , hits from Japanes? suicide planes ' off Iwo Jlma on February 26th. Heroic act'on 6y her crew members saved the carrier from d structlon, but she still lost .123 men killed or missing and 192 wounded In addition, addi-tion, the bombs and suicide planes crashing on h r decks and her own exploding bombs and gasoline left ' gaping wounds, and workers at the navy yard reported that she hr.d more varied typ g of damage alt at once than any ship they had seen ' since Pearl Harbor. I The "Sara", which had sunk the! enemy carrier Ryuzyo in the Solo-' mens, was providing air support at' Iowa when 9 or 10 sucidc plan:s' attacked. AnltaJrcraft guns shot down four of the planes but four others got through. A fifth crashed into the side of the ship, t aring I open a gapping.hole. A sixth blew a hole in the ship's side below th? water line. Cranes, catapults and guns were smashed. Th forward deck was beyond use. The fire on the hangar deck was so lnt nse that It could not be approached from the Interior or the ship. An , hour and a half later Jap planes return for a s cond attack nnd an other suicide plane crashed Into , the ship's side. I Because of the brilliant and hero-ic hero-ic action of the crew the ship was kept afloat and made her way to a frelndly port, and aft.r minor, repairs were made sailed on the' Puget Sound yard whera she was I repaired and sent back Into action' in less than two months time. |