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Show Decorated Army Hero Was Former Cedar Resident Fiiot Lieutenant John J. Webster Web-ster el S.i.t Lake Chy, who was bo;n m Cedar C.ty, and whose father was bo. a ana riured here, has been awarded the a.iver Star by the commanding com-manding gineral of the Seventh Interctp.ur Command, Army Air Corps, -For gallantry in action at Wheeler Field und over the Island of Oahua, T. II., and waters adjacent ad-jacent thereto, December 7, 1941." Lieutenant Webster, Is a son of Mr. and Mrs. John U. Webster, of salt Lake City, and although he was Jutt a small child when his parents moved to northern Utah, his parents par-ents will be remembered by many Cedar City residents. John U. Webster Web-ster is a brother of Parson ana Wilford Webster of Cedar City and was a prominent livestock man aim tanner before leaving Cedar City. The report of Lieutenant Webster's Webs-ter's gallantry of December 7, us puLlished in the Salt Lake Tribune, is as follows: "Lieutenant Webster obtained a Gaiand rifle and ammunition and kept up a continuous fire until all enemy arc raft had disappeared lrom the vicinity of Wheeler Field. He then drove 10 miles to Haleiwa Field, whrre his plane was station-i station-i ed, and took off to attack the in-I in-I vaUiiig Japanese air force. Though outnumbered he attacked the enemy en-emy formation and continued '.0 light until after his controls were damaged and he received a leg wound. He then returned his plane safely to the field. "Lieutenant Webster's initiative, presence of mind, coolness under ' liring against overwhelming odds, expert maneuvering of his plane and determined action contributed to a large extend to driving off the sudden, sud-den, unexpected attack." The young hero enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1939, and received re-ceived his commission as a second lieutenant July 7, 1940, and on the same day married the former Virginia Vir-ginia Coakky, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Coaklcy of Salt Lake City. His wife was in Hawaii at the time of the Japanese attack r.n Pearl Harbor, but is now living In Salt Lake City with her parents. She returned home from Hawaii jn the same boat with Mrs. Eloise Lunt Weyment of Cedar City, the two ladies occupying the same cabin on the trip to San Francisco. Before enlistnig, Lt. Webster way a student of the University of Utah where he was a member of Sigma Pi, Skull and Bones and Scabbard and Blade. |
