Fred Sauer served on the USS Intrepid in WWII
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Fred Sauer in a picture taken shortly after he graduated from boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Receiving Station in 1943.
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The Intrepid is on fire from a kamikaze strike during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in World War II. During the time Fred Sauer served on the carrier, it sustained five kamikaze hits, he said..
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Fred and his wife, Frances, had just been married on Aug. 30, 1942 when their picture was snapped outside her parents' home in Bay City, Mich. In the background is a 1940 Mercury Phaeton four-door convertible.
SUN PHOTO BY DON MOORE
Fred Sauer of Arcadia today, at 90.
The USS Intrepid sailed out of Pearl Harbor on Jan. 16, 1943, and headed for Kwajalein Atoll and the Pacific during World War II. Fred Sauer served as an aviation electrician’s mate aboard the Essex Class aircraft carrier.
The Arcadia man’s job was to make electrical repairs to the F6Fs “Hellcat” fighters, TBF “Avenger” torpedo bombers and SBD “Dauntless” dive-bombers aboard the carrier. During his tour on the ship, Sauer served as acting chief electrician’s mate in charge of keeping the electrical systems in 100 planes working.
