USS Indianapolis Survivors and Rescue personnel

[CA-35]

My first attempt to include a pic. It worked! Thanx Frono!!!!!

This is a carry over from the post "whats in a username" where I promised to post a few pix (once I learned) of the USS Indianapolis survivors from my meetings w/ them in 1998 and 1999. 1197 crew members....317 survivors. Only 105 were still alive in 1998-1999, there are less then 80 now. Read all the threads....I post more pix and stories.

This is survivor Ed Harrell. He is 1 out of 11 surviving marines from the 39 on board. The marines wear red hats, the sailors wore blue.

This is survivor Ken Lantner

This is survivor Harlan M. Twible. This pic was taken at his home in Sararsota. Of the 89 officers aboard only 13 survived. Harlan was a Lt.(jg)

Survivor Bill Dryden

And just for the halibut, this is my dog Frankie Five Angels on double secret guard duty.

 

[idealassets]

Re: USS Indianapolis Survivors

Don't we owe a huge debt of gratitude?

Craig

 

[CA-35]

Re: USS Indianapolis Survivors

Next time you are in the grocery store and the old man in front of you is slow moving and fumbling, don't lose your patience, you never know what that man went through, or sacrificed, in his prime years. This is Big Ed Brown. When he was 17 and in his prime he was 6'-6" and 275. After 4 days and 5 nights in the water he came out under 175 lbs.

We owe a huge debt to all veterans. Sadly the generation of today knows and cares little of the sacrifice these "old guys" endured.
"America.....land of the free because of the brave.

 

[dapmdave]

Re: USS Indianapolis Survivors

Great post.

And, as you know, a lot of these folks reside in Florida. One of my neighbors, and a good friend, was a B-24 navigator back during "the big one". His bravery, and his tales, have been an inspiration to me many times.

Dave

 

[CA-35]

Re: USS Indianapolis Survivors

Palm Bay, Tampa, St Pete, Sarasota they are every where in Florida! Thats good for me!!!

Heres a few more gems. I'm givin ya pearls here........

This is Indy's Angel Chuck Gwinn (kneeling left side) and his Lockheed Ventura PV-1 and crew, signed by Herb Hickman (RIP)

These are some things I put together from my research

 

[CA-35]

Re: USS Indianapolis Survivors

Remember the 89 officers and the 13 surviving? This is Lt. Richard B. Redmayne (RIP) He was the Chief Engineer on the Indy.

These two fellas were the LAST men found alive along with 3 unconscious raftmates. Giles McCoy USMC (only 11 of 39 marines survived) and Felton Outland.

This is a narrative from Adrian Marks the pilot of the Catalina PBY5-A who rescued 56 from certain death.

When it's all said and done there is nothing to talk about except the courage and the sacrifice of the men in the water.

 

[AlohaJoe]

Re: USS Indianapolis Survivors

Thank you for sharing that. Lest we forget...
- Joe W.

 

[Nigel Wickwire]

Re: USS Indianapolis Survivors

........

When it's all said and done there is nothing to talk about except the courage and the sacrifice of the men in the water.

*ahem*....we could talk about the U.S. Navy's shameful treatment of Charles B. McVay III.

Thanks for posting and sharing these pics.

Sincerely,
~nw

 

[CA-35]

Yes we could. Shameful? Maybe. Consider the time....1945.........and the mind set. The Captain was court martialed for failing to zig-zag and hazarding a vessel. The U.S. Navy prosecution did offer up the Captain of the Japanese submarine that sunk the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) as a witness against McVay. They actually flew the Jap Cap in from Japan. He testified, under oath, that he would of hit the ship with his torpedoes while she was zig-zagging or not. All he needed was distance, speed, course, and a stop watch. Captain McVay's defense attorney even called US Navy Submarine Commanders to the stand in support of Captain McVay to state the sheer notion of zig-zagging as a safety precaution is a non-factor.

Understand this; you had the parents and relatives of 880 dead sailors writing letters to President Truman that something should be done. They needed a scape goat and found one in the McVay. A very well-connected man by the name of Thomas Brophy was influential in the whole process. His son, Thomas D'Arcy Brophy Jr., was alive up to the point of the arrival of the first rescue ship, about midnight on Thursday, the start of the 5th night of survival. Accounts have it upon sighting the ship young Ensign Brophy left his group and started to swim towards the search lights of the ship, then succumbed to fatigue and drowned. The sad irony is that years later the senior Brophy drowned while trying to save a child that had fallen thru the ice in his home town.

The Captain was posthumously cleared of the charges, sometime in 2000, only after an uproar from the surviving crew members, a few ballsy Senators, and a 16 year old kid named Hunter Scott.

 

[dreadnut]

My dad survived to tell about the Invasion of Normandy.

These guys were all heroes, every one. Thanks, CA, for keeping the memories alive and for befriending these guys, it's awesome just to know you care.

I love playing this song on my Guild - enjoy, from "Tumbleweed Connection."

http://youtu.be/GE2MmwUbC_E

 

[killdeer43]

This thread reminds me of the line from Eric Bogle's The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, where the survivors of the battle of Gallipoli gather to march every year in remembrance of their fallen comrades, "and the young people ask, 'what are they marching for?' "

Great effort on your part CA. Kudos to you! :wink:

Joe

 

[CA-35]

The Survivors started the reunions in 1960, and met every 5 years in Indianapolis. Then I believe it was in the late eighties that they changed to every 2 years because too many of them were passing away during the interim.

I contacted my first survivor in 1998, Richard B Redmayne, the Chief Engineer of the Indy. I met him in the Miami International Airport while he was waiting to catch a plane to Seattle to see his daughter. That meeting was the "eye opener". I was invited to the 1999 reunion and the rest is history........ so to speak.

There were originally 317. I met 105 in 1999. Its around 80 now. I can't mention by name the men who have passed since because it pains me too much.......................................suffice to say they were my friends and true heroes.

The U.S.S. Indianapolis (CA-35).........."still at sea".

 

[dreadnut]

CA, I'll bet you have enough stories for a great book! You write well, you're passionate about it, you have lots of eyewitnesses...I'm just sayin'...

 

[CA-35]

That was my intent. After years, and a lot of cash spent interviewing, traveling, corresponding, reading and re-reading news clips, organizing notes etc etc.... I realized two things;

1. There already were many novels written about the tragedy. Good ones. I highly advise "Fatal Voyage" by Dan Kurzman and "In Harm's Way" by Doug Stanton.

2. This is a story about the men in the water. Nothing else. It's was not about me, or the possible financial reward at the end if and when you find a publisher. That's another story. For me it's always been about the men and their courage to survive, and how it affected their everyday lives from that point on. I made it a strict rule that I never asked about their time in the water, if they brought it up then so be it, I was intrigued about the aftermath. Where they wound up and what they did with their second chance at life.

Thank-you for the kind words.

 

[GardMan]

I HIGHLY recommend "In Harm's Way" for anyone who would like to read more about the USS Indianapolis. Read it a couple years back at my Dad's, and then again last summer. An incredible story of survival... (and a pretty damning commentary on the Navy chain of command, IMO).

 

[Nigel Wickwire]

Yes we could. Shameful? Maybe. Consider the time....1945.........and the mind set. The Captain was court martialed for failing to zig-zag and hazarding a vessel. The U.S. Navy did offer the Captain of the Japanese submarine that sunk the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) as a witness against him. They actually flew him in from Japan. He testified, under oath, that he would of hit the ship with his torpedoes while she was zig-zagging or not. All he needed was distance, speed, course, and a stop watch. The Captain's defense attorney even called US Navy Submarine Commanders to the stand in support of Captain McVay to state the sheer notion of zig-zagging as a safety precaution is a non-factor.

Understand this; you had the parents and relatives of 880 dead sailors writing letters to President Truman that something should be done. They needed a scape goat and found one in the Captain.......

Given your personal relationship with the survivors, I'm mildly surprised by your willingness to give the U.S. Navy a 'pass' on this one. If one can take at face value, what's posted on the Indianapolis survivors web site, they're a lot less forgiving:

The survivors of the Indianapolis are convinced that he was made a scapegoat to hide the mistakes of others, mistakes which included sending him into harm's way without warning and failing to notice when the Indianapolis failed to arrive on schedule, thus costing hundreds of lives unnecessarily and creating the greatest sea disaster in the history o the United States Navy.

source:http://ussindianapolis.org/mcvay.htm

Nevertheless, I admire your dedication to the survivors and the memory of those who were lost.

~nw

 

[adorshki]

The Captain was posthumously cleared of the charges, sometime in 2000, only after an uproar from the surviving crew members, a few ballsy Senators, and a 16 year old kid named Hunter Scott.

Slight veer, but that demonstrates an extremely important and redeeming characteristic of the US military: the Commander-in-Chief is by definition a civilian. The C-in-C may be EX-military, but the military itself is constitutionally under civilian authority. It makes possible the correction or even banning of injustices which might otherwise go unaddressed, in the neccessary military culture of obediance to orders.
Another redeeming characteristic is that the US actually has a codified definition of war crimes and believes in bringing war criminals to justice, even if, regrettably, the criminals may be our own. Not the case here, but we've seen historic and modern examples of this very process.
Mistakes may be made, but the principle is the acknowledgement of a higher standard of responsibility than mere obediance to orders.
When I finally figured that out I realized just how heavy that responsibilty is, and pretty much accept that anyone who's born it could very well be a better man than I.
So I thank them ALL unreservedly for their service, whether they sought it voluntarily or accepted that duty which was imposed on them without recourse.

 

[CA-35]

Re;

Given your personal relationship with the survivors, I'm mildly surprised by your willingness to give the U.S. Navy a 'pass' on this one.

"The Navy" was then a bunch of crotchety old timers and way too political. Nimitz felt that a Court-Martial was the wrong thing to do but King had a hard-on for McVay III because of an old grudge with McVay II, King's commanding officer when he was an ensign. It was all politics. I don't give em a pass. I just don't get involved. The Captain was never seen in a bad light by the men. That's all I'm concerned with. They (The Navy now) eventually grew a brain and have cleared the Captain's name. That's what the men wanted from the get-go.

This is an excerpt from "Abandon Ship" by Richard F. Newcomb. The finest paragraph ever written about the subject:

When all the bickering was over, it had nearly obscured the only bright page in the whole story; the courage and sacrifice of the men in the water. These men, cast by ill fortune into a hostile sea, were forced to battle for their lives in circumstances perhaps never paralleled. When the sun rose Monday morning, it turned out to be an enemy, and when it set, the night proved even more malevolent. The sea, far from being impersonal, became alive with dangers, not only in itself but because of the marauders within it. The menacing dorsal fin, spiraling ever closer, the flashing teeth of the striking fish were added terrors in an already unequal battle. Alone and helpless, burned by day and chilled by night, the men struggled on. That any survived was a miracle. That some found the strength to offer, and in some cases give, their lives for their shipmates was proof once again of man's divine heritage. When the Indianapolis is remembered, let it bring to mind not alone the imperfections of human-ordered events but also the heroism of those who battled the sea.

 

[dreadnut]

Thanks, CA, I shall pick up the book, being an old sailor myself. I've read bits and pieces of the Indianapolis story over the years, I remember reading about it when the Navy officially exonerated the skipper.

I understand and appreciate your remarks about a book, publisher, etc. It really is all about the men of the Indianapolis. But how about just a journal, oral history written down for the families? Sounds like these stories need to be preserved. It's an awesome thing you're doing.

 

[CA-35]

re;

Sounds like these stories need to be preserved

The USS Indianapolis Survivors Organization will make sure of that.

http://www.ussindianapolis.org/