USS Indianapolis: Survivor Accounts From the Worst Naval Disaster in U.S. History

[jpak]

https://www.history.com/news/uss-indianapolis-sinking-survivor-stories-sharks

hough Tony King is sharp and alert at the age of 94, a part of him is trapped forever in the summer of 1945.

He time-travels there when he speaks of it—even as he sits in a wheelchair near the lone window in his San Francisco apartment. King’s eyes mist over as he tells his story, and with his arms swimming in the sleeves of an old blue bathrobe, his hands draw pictures in the air.

He is young again. It has been days since his ship, USS Indianapolis, was sunk from under him, and he is among hundreds of sailors fighting for their lives in the center of the Philippine Sea. Hundreds have already died of wounds or dehydration. Now, among those still living, many are losing their minds.

“Men started getting ideas that the ship wasn’t far in the distance,” King says. “Promises of pretty girls carrying fresh buttermilk biscuits, or a cold drink just over the horizon. It wasn’t hard to be talked into things out there. So a group of us swam off, following the leader, not wanting to be left behind.”

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[mitch96]

1. So Sad

This was the ship that brought the atomic bomb to the flyers who dropped it... Because of the radio silence the where about of the ship was unknown for 5 days after the sinking.. Many died from shark attack...
There was a movie about the incident...... I could not watch it... Same class of heavy cruiser as my father served on in WW2... He loved that ship...
m

[GP6971]

2. And the Captain

was court martialed for bogus reasons.

Our former company president commanded the sub USS Indianapolis and was very active with the survivors association.

[hfojvt]

3. a relative of mine was on that ship

a 2nd cousin to my grandfather, age 29 from Wisconsin. He didn't survive.

Not that my grandfather ever met him or would have known about it when he heard the news. They were 17 years apart in age and on opposite sides of the state.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. My partner's uncle was killed on The Indianapolis.

My partner’s dad came from a big Missouri farm family. His oldest brother was killed the week before his son (my partner’s cousin) was born.

[roamer65]

4. Very sad story of Japanese brutality.

One of many from WW2.

[tonyt53]

5. Mt dad was in the first US landing of the war - Guadalcanal. Wounded, recovered, then Iwo Jima.

His war effort ended after wounds on Iwo Jima, plus he contracted malaria there. He spent the rest of the war recuperating in Australia. He didn't make it home until 6 months after the war ended. During which time his father had died. My dad hated Japanese with a passion. He had the wounds to remind him.

[flotsam]

6. Umm-a Japanese submarine on battle patrol

sank a US cruiser-where do you see Japanese brutality? Because all I see is a successful wartime cruise and a sad loss of US lives due to US communication failures.

[tblue37]

7. True, but those who go through such events tend to be unforgiving in their

feelings toward the "enemy." My father, who was a 19-year-old airmen at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed, never overcame his prejudice against the Japanese. I knew there was no point in trying to argue with him about it.

[flotsam]

8. Yep

and my brother still uses several non-pc euphemisms for people of Vietnamese descent. However the poster did not claim to be a ww2 vet and it would be ridiculous to carry someone else's 63 year old grudges.

[mitch96]

13. "never overcame his prejudice against the Japanese"

My father was like that with Germans.... On his side of the family all were killed in the Holocaust. He went nuts when I wanted to get a Volkswagen.. My best friend growing up, his mother was a kid growing up in Nazi Germany.. He did not care for her and made his feelings known. A gent I worked with was a pilot in WW2 in the Pacific.. Hated the Japanese also. I mean his whole affect would change and you could just see the personification of hate...
Grudges are very heavy things to carry around...

m

[tblue37]

15. I never let Dad know I had Japanese-American friends in college and even briefly dated a

boy whose mother was Japanese.I

When JFK was killed, Dad was infuriated that the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Japan attended the state funeral.

He never talked to us about Pearl Harbor, but he never got over it, either.

[NutmegYankee]

10. It wasn't brutality. It was a military action, between armed opponents.

[NutmegYankee]

9. Not even remotely the worst naval disaster in US history.

Pearl Harbor has that distinction, with the Battle of Savo Island following close behind.

[onethatcares]

12. my father was a radio operator on a PBY

one day after a few beers my sons got him to say a few words about his part in the war. He spoke of seeing sailors in the water and not being able to pick them up due to there being so many of them. He said the crew he was with could only circle and say, "those poor batards".

I'm not at all sure he was talking about the Indianapolis but he was stationed in the way south Pacific ocean.

[mitch96]

14. "He said the crew he was with could only circle"

Those PBY operators saved many lives even if they could not pick the sailors up.. Dropping life rafts ,food and water to keep them going. Also they would radio the position of the men so a ship could go pick them up... Great service to our Armed forces..

m

[Persondem]

16. Very interesting. Thank you for posting this. K & R nt