Saratoga (CV 3) - Naval Cruise Book

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rw, 'bn-Q CAPTAIN AKERS R SH SEAMAN FIRST CLASS 45 PURPLE HEARTS D D J NERBON GUNNER S MATE SECOND CLASS

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Y Y, , rw N5i7Yfwzdwg' wg-w-w.,W.m.,w - - - -We ' 1-wi t 'f t- L st ,xvvty , ...-,.,..,..,,,,---:e.-,i..,-..-A Y -Y ---- - V - - , ., ,. , . ,. . . W SARATOGA REGINA Ye men of the land, ye men of the soil Will not understand when you hear us say That we're proud of the blood in the ocean's green, Proud of the horrors we all have seen: You will not understand when you hear us pray God bless the Sara-our Queen! They caught her halfway between the fleets Where there were none to see. None but yellow, slanted eyes, That measured her length from the clouded sky And laughing like maniacs in crazy glee, Made ready to watch our aged queen die. At the first rending shocks she leaped and shrank, WERE HlT! l heard someone say, Or was it myself-I can't recall- F or beneath the debris that blanketed all Godless and Christians knelt to pray ln the fear that heaven and sky would fall. Suicide planes dived into the deck, And bombs tore open her side. And as each Nippon dived with a scream, We on the Sara thought it all a dream, That this was happening to our joy and pride That an hour before did so quietly steam. Twisting and turning, desperate she ran, . Shuddering and leapt as the falcons struck, While the widening slick from her ravaged side Blackened the Waves in a bloody tide, And constantly over our canted truck, Straight through the maelstrom of flaming hell Furiously she swept, an embattled queen, Her battered, bleeding head held high. , We knew, even then, she could never die: We also knew what a prize she would mean To those maddened maggots in the sky. A chattering gun, like frozen rain- A roar, an instant of eternal silence- Men blasted high, to heaven or hell: I know not which, only that they fell Into tongues of flames and roaring violence We and Christ know they died well. Hysterical men?-No, there were none. But the horrors they lived will never dim. Like the man who clutched at his ball-less eye, While dazed and stunned for thread did cry, To sew it back-or the lad with lips so grim, With one arm saying- GO ON! OTHERS ARE WORSE THAN l With the dawning of day, bleak as the rest, A message was sent to half the world That a U. S. carrier had sustained an attack, A few lives were lost-but she beat them back But only we saw our flag unfurled, Caressing the bodies, charred and black. Only we were standing by When the burial squad counted ONE-TWO-THREE And a canvas bag in an arc would sweep, While the trumpets' taps bid them quietly sleep And the body shall be cast into the sea- One hundred and twenty-three times: ONE TWO-THREE Logan Albert Forster Pharmacist Mate, Second CIE There sounded the drone of the yellow men's pride. United States Now

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