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Show Blown From His Station Three Times Vfy, S,, , Blown from his station three times Private First Class Frank R. Campbell, 20-year-old Utah Marine gunner aboard the ill-fated ill-fated cruiser USS Astoria, crawled crawl-ed back each time to continue the fight until bis gun was put out of commission. . The Astoria, together with the cruisers Quincy and Vincennes, was sunk in an engagement off Savo Island, near Guadalcanal, on the morning of August 9. He said: "I was off watch and sleeping topside when the show started, The gun captain woke me saying, "There's a circus going on across the way. Want to see it," "I saw flares sent up by the Japanese to light their targets. A searchlight was turned on us "We began firing immediately but we received several hits almost simultaneously. I was blown from the gun station three times by concussion from shells, but each time managed to crawl back. The last time our gun was put out of commission entirely. "Althugh tired, every hand worked hard helping the wounded and putting out fires. Finally the order came to abandon ship and we went over the side." Campbell is now at Pearl Harbor. Har-bor. He joined the Marines in February, 1941, and also saw action ac-tion in the Battle of Midway. His home is at 1051 West Seventh Sev-enth North, Salt Lake City. |