Newspapers / Cloudbuster (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / Nov. 19, 1943, edition 1 / Page 5
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Friday, November 19, 1943 CLOUDBUSTER Page Five (Uriel, USm, Coach of USS Card Football Team at the football game last e^he Mariners, leaders in the ai^ team from the USS Card. ; Top middle photo shows IS^nd Cadet L. L. Jones, coach ri®> while just below is Lieut. coach and his Co-Captains k Rago and on the right , "'er left hand photo shows j‘(Ret.), presenting awards at fhe six cadets who won first aF^ck meet, while on the right ^f^lking things over with his le'ictures include shots of the the Pine Room at Lenoir a'^*’®dit from the Mariners it io|*®t the Card eleven had but y before the game, and that ago. They worked out at d*t 10 footballs before their ci^s ball. A crowd of 2,500, ;l‘tnessed the game with half t'Card eleven, and the other Cadets Mascolino and n! ^'^uchdowns, while the Card played best for the losers. mm Presidential Citation Given To Tasic Unit 21H Follovk^ing is the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to Task Unit 21.14 by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, acting in the name of the President of the United States, for outstanding per formance during anti-submarine operations in the mid-Atlantic: “For outstanding performance during anti-submarine operations in mid-Atlantic from July 27, 1943. At a time when continual flow of supplies along the United States- North Africa convoy route was essential to the mainten ance of our established military supremacy and to the accu mulation of reserves, the Card, "her embarked aircraft and her escorts pressed home a vigorous offensive which was largely responsible for the complete withdrawal of hostile U-boats from this vital supply area. Later, when sub marines returned with deadlier weapons and augmented antiaircraft defenses, this heroic Task Unit, by striking damaging blows at the onset of renewed campaigns, wrested the initiative from the enemy before actual inception of projected large-scale attacks. Its distinctive fulfillment of difficult and hazardous missions contributed materially to victorious achievements by our land forces.” The Task Unit consisted of the USS Card, USS Barry, USS Borie, USS Goff, and Composite Squadrons One and Nine, avia tion units stationed aboard the USS Card. The award of this citation marks the first time that the Presi dential Unit Citation has been presented to a group of ships and aircraft composing a Task Unit. The citation, the highest award which can be received by any unit of the armed services of the United States, is awarded for the performance of services “above and beyond the high standard expected of our forces.” the account of her activities dur ing three consecutive days. _Her Air Group had drawn first blood from the enemy only a few days before and the pilots were chafing for more action. It came suddenly one morning when Lieut. Asbury H. Sallenger, USNR, of Goldsboro, N. C., in a Grumman Avenger torpedo bomb er ranging far from the Card, spotted two surfaced subs and went in for the attack. He dam aged one so severely with bombs that it could not dive, and prob ably sank the other. The first was finished off 10 minutes later by other Avenger pilots. That same day the Borie attack ed a sub, but with only doubtful results. However, it indicated that the Card and her group were in the middle of a wolfpack. The next day Avenger pilot, Lieut. Sallenger, and fighter pilot Ensign John Frankljm Sprague, USNR, of Sunnyside, Wash., in a Wildcat, were among the group that took off in a dawn hunt for the subs. After a few reports the pair was not heard from for three hours and, when the rest of the group had been landed aboard the Card, the Card and her escorts set out for the area to look for them because they obviously were down at sea. Lieutenant Sallenger’s story follows: “The weather was poor when we took off, with a solid overcast, rain squalls and poor visibility. Sprague was flying on my wing. All at once I spotted two U-boats, only 150 yards apart, moving slow ly on almost parallel courses. “I signalled Sprague to attack and he made a beautiful strafing run, giving that sub a methodical going over with his machine-guns. But as I followed him in, I got some ‘AA’ in my fuselage, putting out my inter-plane communication and electrical systems and also damaging the vertical fin of my plane and the rudder. Everything happened so suddenly, and the damage to my electrical system prevented the release of bombs on my first run. “I pulled up and out for a sec ond attack, with my engine pop ping and cutting out. Meanwhile, Sprague was making another ex cellent strafing run on the other sub. “When I went in on my second run, I got hit again and the wing burst into flames. However, I made my ‘drop’ and looked back to make sure my bombs exploded in the proper place. The explosions, which seemed to go off right under the sub, covered it with water. “My wing was now burning bad ly, so I dropped my remaining bombs and made a water landing. It put out the fire in the wing. “I got out of the plane and saw See CITATION, page 8 i
Cloudbuster (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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