IN MEMORY OF A CORAL SEA BATTLE VICTIM Monday, November 15, 1943

Sampson -- More than 300 miles from salt water, the USS Edwards sails proudly at the U.S. Naval Training Station here, in memory of Radioman John O. Edwards, killed in the battle of the Coral Sea.

The Edwards is the flagship of Edwards Unit, one of the five big recruit training divisions which turn out thousands of fighting sailors to man the nation's fighting fleet.

But the ship isn't just a monument, it's a practical training aid in the task of making sailors out of civilians. In building it, from salvaged scrap material, Edwards Unit recruits learned, by fashioning replicas in wood, many of the features of a fighting ship at sea.

The Edwards was built under the direct supervision of Chief Boatswain's Mate Earl T. Bryant, USN, Mt. Rainier, Md. Veteran of 16 years of Navy service, Chief Bryant was wounded in the sinking of the USS Quincy in Macassar Strait. In general charge of the construction, and of training of recruits aboard the Edwards are Lieut. A. P. Cervini, USNR, Worcester, Mass., Third Regiment commander, and Ensign Charles Patrone, USNR, Hyde Park, Mass., regimental adjutant.

In seagoing fashion, a ship's bell rings out the half hours from the deck of the Edwards. Regulation mooring lines secure the Edwards to the soil of Sampson. Depth charges in racks are poised at the ship's stern. Everything's in scale - the bridge, wheel, binnacle, splinter shield, engine room hatches.

Each recruit company, under the direction of its commander, inspects and works on the ship as part of basic training. A bulletin board on the "dock" carries a signal flag or pennant - a different one each day - with its meaning explained and the equivalent in International Morse code inscribed beneath the flag.

Armament for the Edwards will be a three-inch gun replica, now being constructed from wood.

January 29, 1943 Sampson Went On the Air

Sampson went on the air with a permanent weekly sports broadcast last week. Originating in F drill hall over the facilities of station WSAY in Rochester, the initial program featured a brief talk by Captain Harry A. Badt, U.S.N., Commandant, and an interview of Chief Specialist Edward T. Hunsinger.

July 30, 1943 Whaleboat Racing At Naval Training Station

A racing crew of eighteen men, organized from among the staff of the boathouse at Sampson Naval Training Station, is on the lookout for whaleboat competition. It is in training under the expert eye of Lieut. (jg) Frank Corteso, Jr., in charge of boat repair. Many of the members of the team are veterans of whaleboat competition in the fleet. Some were formerly on the Quincy and Wasp, which were sunk. The crew works out on a standard three-mile course and soon expects to be in top shape.