WRECKAGE FROM USS INDIANAPOLIS LOCATED IN PHILIPPINE SEA

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That's great..Hopefully national geo or somebody will give us a look someday,,I have a book Lost Ships of Guadalcanal and it's fascinating

Been following Paul Allen`s posts on facebook and see all kinds of new photos posted of the find. He paid for the search.

Pictures from https://www.facebook.com/PaulGAllen.Ideas/

Radioman 2nd Arthur Cecil Trotter. Lost at sea in sinking of USS Indianapolis. My father's cousin.

That's quite a depth. The pressure at that depth always amazes me.

Fictional account, yet powerful:

"Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into her side, Chief. We was comin’ back from the island of Tinian to Leyte. We’d just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes.

Didn’t see the first shark for about a half-hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that in the water, Chief? You can tell by lookin’ from the dorsal to the tail. What we didn’t know, was that our bomb mission was so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn’t even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin’ by, so we formed ourselves into tight groups. It was sorta like you see in the calendars, you know the infantry squares in the old calendars like the Battle of Waterloo and the idea was the shark come to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin’ and hollerin’ and sometimes that shark he go away… but sometimes he wouldn’t go away.

Sometimes that shark looks right at ya. Right into your eyes. And the thing about a shark is he’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes. When he comes at ya, he doesn’t even seem to be livin’… ’til he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then… ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’. The ocean turns red, and despite all your poundin’ and your hollerin’ those sharks come in and… they rip you to pieces.

You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don’t know how many sharks there were, maybe a thousand. I do know how many men, they averaged six an hour. Thursday mornin’, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boson’s mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water, he was like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he’d been bitten in half below the waist.

At noon on the fifth day, a Lockheed Ventura swung in low and he spotted us, a young pilot, lot younger than Mr. Hooper here, anyway he spotted us and a few hours later a big ol’ fat PBY come down and started to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened. Waitin’ for my turn. I’ll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went into the water. 316 men come out, the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945.

Anyway, we delivered the bomb.”

Yeah, definitely fictional. First of all, the secret mission had been completed. Secondly even if it had not been yet completed mission secrecy would be no reason to not send a distress signal once the ship was sinking.

And finally, a distress call was sent:

Especially fascinating considering less than 3 months ago on May 25th, the wreck of Japanese submarine I-58 that sunk USS Indianapolis was discovered.

Only meant to highlight the sacrifice of the men aboard the ship.

The account was made up by actor Robert Shaw, from the movie Jaws. I didn't write it; I understand what happened. It's just a powerful mental image.

Edgar Harrell, USS Indianapolis Survivor



Wheels

I have mixed feelings on these things. I think they are war graves to be respected as such. The exact locations should never be released.

It's my understanding that the location will be kept secret. It's a shame that has to be the case.

There's a documentary called "Return to the USS Atlanta: Defender of Guadalcanal" that some of you may have scene, with footage of a crew diving on the wreck on the bottom of Ironbottom Sound interspersed with interviews of survivors. The wreck was treated with the highest level of respect as it deserves, and the whole thing was very touching.

I have heard the same thing but I doubt it will remain secret for very long. Imo there are already enough clues in the article for someone else with enough money to go searching for the location. It's depth should keep it fairly safe from salvage operations though. It is close to a mile deeper than the Titanic.

Titanic - 12,500 feet deep
Indianapolis - 18,000 feet deep


Wheels

Shocked at how well preserved she appears to be in the photos. The first picture I saw when this was announced earlier today was of the white storage box with USS Indianapolis clearly printed on it's side, I was sure it was a fake it was so clear looking.

F4 thanks for the first pictures and S!! to Radioman 2nd Arthur Cecil Trotter and all the crew members may they RIP !

I thought it was remarkably well preserved too. The number was very clear, a bell looked untouched, lots of items just seemed like it was just recently sunk.
Gotta admit, Jaws popped into mind immediately for me too. That's a good side effect of a good movie--how many people are aware of what happened to those poor men thanks to the movie that otherwise wouldn't have known?

I had known that I was named for my father's cousin who died in WWII for as longs I can remember, but for some reason I had never asked any details. Then "Jaws" came out and the Indianapolis stories were in all the newspapers, and one day my father was reading one and he says "That was Cecil's ship", and I've been studying all I could find about her ever since.

PBS broadcast this last night:



https://youtu.be/CTki2sOnqJo

Thanks F4 very good to watch

Sonar scan of the USS Indianapolis wreck site. Note that the bow (upper right) is about a mile from the rest of her.

This is the resting place of the approximately 300 men who went down with her.

Main gun turrets 1 and 2 dropped out of their barbettes when Indianapolis capsized and their locations are noted above. For some reason turret 3 did not drop free and is still in place.

Indianapolis would likely have survived had only the first torpedo hit severing the bow, several US cruisers lost their bows forward of number 1 turret and survived. But the second torpedo, hitting below the bridge, doomed her.

Sitting in the water with a life jacket with sharks EATING your friends...

Can you imagine surviving that and dealing with some phsrink telling you how you should feel?

Most of these wrecks are being scavenged illegally for pre nuke steel. I'd say in a generation or so they will all be gone.

In the case of this one, I would think the depth (3.5 miles) will protect it from a lot of potential disturbance.

WWII veteran among last who survived sinking of USS Indianapolis dies at 95

Only 18 remain.

Only 17 remain.

Sam Lopez, 93, of Monongah, passed away March 20, 2018

No obituary available yet but Ensign Harlan Twible passed yesterday at 96.

Only 16 remain.


https://youtu.be/r5U28hFNQ_k

RIP

RIP Harlan, may you finally know peace.


Wheels

Survivors Luis Kayo Erwin of Tennessee and John Woolston of Hawaii, both 93 years old, joined their lost shipmates on June 7, 2018.

Only 14 USS Indianapolis sinking survivors remain.

Moral Lessons From the Crucible of the Sea
By Doug Stanton

Each summer, as Lake Michigan finally begins to warm, I think of the men of the World War II cruiser Indianapolis and the worst disaster at sea in United States naval history. I go down to the lake and I wonder: How would I have survived what they experienced?

I don’t know the answer, but it’s the asking of the question that helps me recalibrate what could be called my moral compass.

On July 30, 1945, just over a month before the end of the war, the ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. It sank in 12 minutes. Of the 1,195 men on board, only 316 were alive when help arrived four and a half days later. Headlines of the disaster deeply disturbed Americans: How could this have happened so close to the war’s end?

Today, only 14 of those men are still living, and each July they meet in Indianapolis for a reunion, as they have periodically since 1960, to gather around memories of shipmates who were lost at sea and those survivors who have recently passed away.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, over 16 million Americans served in World War II, and of those, about 497,000 are with us today, in our neighborhoods, at our grocery stores and family gatherings. Around 400 are dying a day, meaning that sometime within this generation, all will be deceased.

I suspect that we’ll feel, then, that the 20th century has truly ended.

We’ll no longer be able to walk up to the gentleman we spy on our way from the dairy case to the quinoa, wearing a hat bearing the insignia of a World War II unit, and shake the hand of someone who fought Hitler. That connection with the past is especially important when many Americans are flirting with the poisonous ideas our grandfathers and great-grandfathers battled in Europe and the Pacific.

When I first met the survivors of the Indianapolis in 1999 while writing a book about them, their story, the last major action of World War II, was rarely mentioned in high school textbooks. This is despite the fact that, before its torpedoing, the ship had delivered components of the atomic bomb Little Boy to Tinian Island. The bomb parts were packed in a plywood case whose contents the sailors tried vainly to guess, having no idea their ship was delivering the atom to modern warfare.

As the men floated in the sea, they were blinded by sun, hounded by hallucinations, thirst and hunger, attacked by sharks and beset, finally, by the realization that no one was coming to rescue them. Some of them purposefully swam away to die, feeling all hope was lost. Others surrendered to the moment but did not give up, an important distinction. While still certain that rescue would never come, they carried on, assisting struggling shipmates even when it didn’t seem to matter. By becoming selfless, they apprehended who they were as individuals.

When they were miraculously rescued, having been spotted by a 24-year-old pilot named Chuck Gwinn, whom in later years they affectionately called their “angel,” they felt they had been reborn. The second half of the 20th century was powered by this restless energy, possessed by millions of other Americans also returning from war. When I ask the survivors about this ordeal’s effect on their lives, they consistently remark that since their rescue, they’ve “never had a bad day.”

Reflecting on their struggle to survive feels instructive. When I look at Lake Michigan each July, I imagine the men of the Indianapolis visible on the horizon; dark heads, struggling arms, a cry and whirl of a world being remade. I feel an overwhelming sense of sadness, accompanied by a desire to yell out that they will be rescued. At the same time, I know that many were rescued. But the sadness always comes.

What I feel I’m watching, in my mind’s eye, is the work of people struggling to stay alive and, in the process, struggling with what it means to be a moral person, even after they emerged from the crucible of the sea.

Capt. Charles McVay of the Indianapolis was court-martialed, making him the only captain in American history to be court-martialed for losing his ship in an act of war. Giles McCoy, a founder of the U.S.S. Indianapolis Survivors Organization, promised his captain that the Navy one day would exonerate him. But in 1968, outside his stately home in Litchfield, Conn., Captain McVay took his own life.

The survivors and other advocates struggled for years to clear Captain McVay’s name. When I asked Mr. McCoy why his shipmates stood behind Captain McVay, he said, “The skipper never blamed anyone but himself.” This is despite the fact that the Japanese submarine commander who had sunk the ship, Mochitsura Hashimoto, testified during the court-martial that there was nothing Captain McVay could have done to stop it.

Captain McVay, steadfast in his own moral universe, believed otherwise. Forgive yourself, we want to say, but we know he won’t. His sense of duty was profound, and the survivors’ efforts to clear his name can be heard as an elegiac counterpoint to his suffering. Finally, on July 13, 2001, 56 years after the ship’s sinking, the Navy announced that Captain McVay was not culpable for the disaster.

Last night I swam out beyond the buoys, looked up at the sky and felt the dark, pliable hand of the night water take hold. I do this every year: Five minutes floating alone in the dark, unable to touch bottom, is the barest glimpse of the ordeal that those 316 men of the Indianapolis survived. But I recommend it.

Swim out where the bottom swoops to the deep and dog-paddle. Even though you’re certain you’re safe, the mind skips a beat. I promise, you’ll tell yourself: Tomorrow will be a good day.


Doug Stanton (@DougStantonBook) is the author of “The Odyssey of Echo Company,” “In Harm’s Way” and “Horse Soldiers.”

Seventy three years ago today the survivors of USS Indianapolis have been in the water for almost 48 hours. The still have at least 36 more hours to go before being spotted. Hundreds that have survived until this point will not live that long.

"August 1st: The sun sets, darkening the sky and the Indianapolis survivors' morale with each passing swell. After nearly 64 hours adrift hallucinations swirl among the men. Fear rises and expresses itself through distrust and violence. A few men lash out against their brothers, mistaking them for mortal enemies. Threatened by the sharks below, by the men floating nearby, and by their own minds within, darkness falls on the group. This is the worst night so far, and the realization that the Navy has forgotten them begins to take root."


https://www.facebook.com/USSIndiana...741827.223780414341632/1938400526212937/

USS Indianapolis survivor receives an honorary promotion after decades

I also posted him telling about his ordeal earlier in this thread.
Edgar Harrell, USS Indianapolis Survivor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOAg3wCkOkI


Wheels

New PBS program on Indianapolis, excellent.

http://www.pbs.org/uss-indianapolis/home/

I've been reading about this tragedy, watching these TV specials and have meet several of the survivors over the past 40+ years that I've been researching USS Indianapolis but it seems it gets harder to watch not easier. The tears flowed a couple of times tonight.

USS Indianapolis survivor Dale Krueger has passed.

Only 13 remain.

http://norfolkdailynews.com/news/su...3be5b9a-2e11-11e9-915b-3f2d54c45618.html

Only 12 remain.

USS Indianapolis Survivor Richard Stephens was 92 years old when he passed earlier today.

Time takes no prisoners.
RIP Richard.


Wheels

Yes more and more pass every day.

wheels have you made a model of the Indy?

No, Did I say something that gave that impression?
I haven't built any models since my early teens and I am fairly certain it was a B-29.


Wheels

wheels, brain fart as I meant to say F4U. :duh :blush : :

I did years ago. I have a 1/350 Academy model of Indy now but I don't plan on building it until I can do it right.

Friday August 3, 1945
Day Four

The Final Rescue

USS Ringness (APD-100) came across a raft with a few men who were barely clinging to life. Only Felton Outland and Giles McCoy were still conscious.

"I remember when I got on board the Ringness, I was "Mr. Macho"...I was a tough Marine. Anyhow, I came up with the idea that I could walk... I stood up and my legs gave out and I fell right flat on my face. I couldn't get up, so I remember I turned on my side and kissed the deck."
- Survivor Giles McCoy

The five men on McCoy and Outland's raft were the last Indianapolis survivors pulled from the water.

McCoy passed in 2009, Outland in 2016.

There is no way to describe how amazing those guys are (were). I would have wet myself just thinking about the boat going down much less trying to survive in the aftermath.

Previously unreleased video on the second anniversary of the discovery of Indianapolis' final resting place. Seeing the radio room where my cousin worked..... no words.


https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=371910783746852

Amazing footage.

USS Indianapolis survivor Art Leenerman passed away Monday night at age 95.

Only 11 remain.

RIP

51 years ago yesterday, November 6th, 1968, Captain Charles B McVay took his own life, the last victim of the USS Indianapolis sinking.

I remember walking through Union Station in Cincinnati and seeing a man in a wheel chair wearing the USS Indianapolis hat. I struck up a conversation, he was old but didn't know if he was old enough to have served on the ship. I asked him and he said it was his father that he barely remembered. He said he never met any of the survivors that said he saw him, so he just kept believing he went down with the ship.

That hit me in the gut.

USS Indianapolis survivor Don Howison passed away yesterday at age 98. He was the oldest remaining survivor and last remaining Indianapolis officer, an Ensign at the time of her loss.

Only 10 remain.

USS Indianapolis survivor Jim Jarvis passed away Saturday at age 98. He was the oldest remaining survivor.

Only 9 remain.

A humorous story from a "honorary survivor" :

"Sweet Jim Jarvis passed away yesterday. He was the oldest USS Indianapolis CA-35 Survivor. Even at that age, he still found ways to make people smile while sharing the story of his ship's tragedy. He showed up to interviews and events in a t shirt that said "USS INDIANAPOLIS SWIM TEAM" across the front!

The first time I saw it, my eyeballs nearly fell out of my head. Am I supposed to laugh? Is is wrong to laugh? This man spend 5 days in shark-infested water during WWII. I hugged him and we both laughed.

A few years ago, he showed up to the Indy reunion wearing shorts with little sharks printed on them. This time, I didn't hold back. I made him stand up and show the audience - and we all laughed.

Jim was the one who taught me that dark humor is very much a coping mechanism and it's a healthy thing to use when processing unpleasant events. He and his shipmates do that better than anyone."

No one does dark humor better than the military.

CNO Asks Fleet for Moment of Silence in Honor of USS Indianapolis 75th Anniversary

Today, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday sent a message to the fleet asking for a moment of silence on July 29, between 11:03 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. EDT, to honor the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis (CA 35).

Below is the text of his message:

“On July 30, 1945, just three minutes after midnight, the heavy cruiser USS INDIANAPOLIS (CA 35) was struck by two Japanese torpedoes in the dark of night while conducting a solo transit of the Philippine Sea. Despite their best efforts, the ship went down in 12 short minutes. While around 900 of the 1,195-member crew escaped the ship that night, tragically only 316 were rescued.

While much is written about the crews four harrowing days in the waters of the Pacific waiting to be found with few lifeboats, over-exposure to the elements, and almost no food or water, one thing is certain: those brave Sailors and Marines endured impossible hardships by banding together. And we must do the same today.

So, I ask you to pause and take a moment on July 29, between 11:03 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. EDT, to remember the brave Sailors and Marines of INDIANAPOLIS. Remember their courage and devotion to each other in the face of the most severe adversity. Remember their valor in combat and the role they played in ending the most devastating war in history. Honor their memory and draw strength from their legacy.

America. Has. A. Great. Navy. Our nation counts on you and so do I. Never more proud to be your CNO.”

Coincidentally just this week I was contacted by the son of a USS Indianapolis crewman. His father was a radioman like my cousin and was wounded when Indianapolis was struck by a kamikaze off Okinawa. While he was recuperating he received letters from his shipmates, including my cousin (Trotter). Below are those letters, note the areas cut away by the censor. This is the first example of writing from my cousin, and the man whose name I now carry, I have ever seen.


Of the men who wrote notes to John Johnson (the injured crewman) only one, Hodge, survived the sinking less than 3 months later.

HODGE, Howard Henry, RM2*
COLE, Walter Henry, CRMA
WALKER, Jack Edwin, RM2
DOLLINS, Paul, RM2
TROTTER, Arthur Cecil, RM2
CALL, James Edward, RM3
RUTHERFORD, Robert Arnold, RM2

What a fascinating and valuable historic resource those pages are!

Taken earlier today at the USS Indianapolis memorial by a friend of mine whose father survived the sinking.



I believe this is one of the most beautiful and tastefully done monuments anywhere.

An aside... Indianapolis was sunk in the first minutes of July 30,1945. The time in the eastern US when the torpedoes struck her would have been shortly after 11:00 AM on July 29. My father, a WWII US Navy veteran himself, passed away 57 years to the day, almost to the hour, after Indianapolis' sinking. Today has been a very melancholy day for me.

“A Sailors Reward”

"I have been sitting here and thinking of the things I left behind
And hate to put on paper, just what’s running through my mind
But there is one consolation, gather close and I will tell
When we die we’ll go to heaven, for we’ve spent our hitch in hell

We’ve dived a million bilges and chipped ten miles of paint
A meaner place this side of hell, there just simply ain’t
We’ve stood by endless hours, while waiting for our mail
We’ve stood a million watches, and been on all details

We’ve scrubbed a million mess halls, peeled a million spuds
We’ve lashed a million hammocks, and washed our dirty duds
The number of inspections stood, is very hard to tell
There’ll be no such thing in heaven, for we’ve spent our hitch in hell

We’ve cruised a million miles and made a thousand ports
We’ve spent the nights in dirty jails, for trying to be good sports
When final taps are sounded, and we lay aside life’s cares
Then we take the final shore leave, right up those golden stairs

The Angels will welcome us, and the harps will begin to play
We sign a million pay checks, all to be spent in one day
And then we’ll hear Saint Peter, greet us with a loud yell
Take a front seat sailors, for you spent your hitch in HELL."


Written by Ed (George Edward) Jones, S 2/c, from Blaine, Tennessee, Div. 5, Gunner, U.S.S. Indianapolis, sent to his sister Imogene (Jarnigan) in 1945.
Seaman Jones lost his life in the sinking.

75 years ago today, the last USS Indianapolis CA-35 Survivor was rescued.

Out of 1,195 crew members, only 316 came out of the ocean alive.

To break that number down:

The crew was made up of 1,156 sailors.
Only 307 Survived.

The crew had 39 Marines on board.
Only 9 Survived.

879 men lost their lives between July July 30th and August 3rd, 1945.

Approximately 300 went down with the ship when Indy was struck by two Japanese torpedoes. Over the next five days, the rest who were lost at sea perished from blast injuries, drowning, dehydration, hallucinations, and shark attacks.

316 men were left to speak in behalf of the other three-fourths of the crew.

Today, there are only eight USS Indianapolis CA-35 Survivors still living.

Honor them. Listen to them. Learn from them.

Never forget their 879 shipmates who did not come home.

USS Indianapolis Survivor Robert Witzig has passed away at the age of 96. Seven remain.

Somehow I missed the passing of an Indianapolis Survivor back in June. Tony King was lost to the entire USS Indianapolis community for decades and was welcomed back into the fold only a couple of years ago.

Rest in peace.

USS INDIANAPOLIS SURVIVOR A.C. “TONY” KING DIES AT 94

USS Indianapolis Survivor James Smith has passed away at the age of 96. Six remain.

James Wesley Smith, Sr.

RIP. All brave souls

The last remaining US Marine survivor of the USS Indianapolis, Edgar Harrell, has passed away at the age of 96. Five remain.

Last surviving Marine of USS Indianapolis attack dies, only 5 survivors remain

RIP

RIP to all who served on the CA-35.

USS Indianapolis Survivor Richard Thelen has passed away at the age of 94. Four remain.




https://www.wthr.com/mobile/article...531-f1c32376-6c31-4994-92a9-ace8d549c5d6

God Speed.

I met a man with a USS Indianapolis hat at Union Station in Cincinnati. Inquired, because he looked about 15-20 years too young to have been on the ship. He told me, "My father was on the ship." I told him I was sorry for his loss and the nation was grateful for his sacrifice. He told me, "Yes, we hope he went down with the ship and didn't survive the sinking."

Still haunts me to this day.

USS Indianapolis Survivor Adolfo "Harpo" Celaya has passed away at the age of 94. Three remain.

https://www.wthr.com/article/news/n...531-9061c638-ea54-407d-aad4-2499918b10d0

USS Indianapolis Survivor Granville Crane has passed away at the age of 95. Two remain.

This animation gives an idea, eventually, of the sheer depth of the wreck. It's also of general interest for other wrecks, but it mentions the Indianapolis specifically so here it is.

That is a fascinating video DM. I wasn't aware of the depth some of those ships were at.

The remaining two USS Indianapolis Survivors, Harold Bray and Cletus Lebow, will gather for a reunion next week.

It is with the deepest sadness that we must share that USS Indianapolis Survivor Cleatus Lebow passed away earlier today.

Cleatus, 98, was a lifelong Texas resident, having grown up with 8 brothers and sisters in Abernathy. As a teen, he joined the Navy and was shortly thereafter assigned to USS Indianapolis in January of 1944. He helped the ship earn 7 of her 10 battle stars. Cleatus was a Fire Controlman 3rd class who worked as a gunnery range-finder for most of those battles including Marianas, Tinian, Iwo Jima, and the pre-bombardment of Okinawa.

Following the war, Lebow returned home to Abernathy and worked for the telephone company, where his military experience was helpful. He worked in various locations in that field for 35 years prior to retiring. He became an integral member of the USS Indianapolis Survivors Organization and attended many reunions through the following decades, honoring his shipmates and sharing their stories with everyone he could.

With his passing, there is one remaining USS Indianapolis survivor, Harold Bray, Jr.

Today would be the 100th birthday of my fathers double first cousin Radioman Second Class Arthur Cecil Trotter, lost at sea in the sinking of USS Indianapolis July 30, 1945 at age 22.

Movie on it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102455/

HEART the commercials!

For a "made for TV" movie "Mission of the Shark" did an excellent job of telling the Indianapolis story. Terrible title however.

I agree.It got me thinkimg of a shark horror movie.

The last living survivor of USS Indianapolis 95 year old Harold Bray with his shark motif water cup.

Happy 96th Birthday to Harold Bray

Happy Birthday sir!

Overcoming 78 years of enmity, two "last survivors" on each side of World War II have shared messages of peace, as a veteran in this west Japan city received a letter from a former U.S. naval officer on June 10.

Kunshiro Kiyozumi, who resides in the town of Masaki, Ehime Prefecture, is the last surviving crew member from the I-58, a submarine in the former Imperial Japanese Army's fleet that sunk the United States Navy's USS Indianapolis.

The USS Indianapolis heavy cruiser was sunk by torpedoes launched from the I-58 on July 30, 1945, in the Philippine Sea right after completing its mission to deliver parts for the "Little Boy" nuclear warhead to a U.S. base on Tinian Island in the Marianas. This weapon was dropped by the U.S. on the Japanese city of Hiroshima weeks later.

On June 10, the now 94-year-old Kiyozumi received a letter from California resident Harold Bray, the last surviving crewman from USS Indianapolis. Bray, who was just 14-years-old when the war broke out, wrote, "There are no winners in a war," and, "Let us look forward to working together to build a better, safer world."

According to sources including the official organization that represents the Indianapolis' survivors and the families of those lost in the attack, of the 1,195 onboard, about 800 men went into the water, and 316 were rescued after several days at sea. Twenty-two of the survivors were still alive as of 2017, but now, Bray stands alone.

What brought about the connection between the two survivors was an exhibition on the theme of peace held by the Imabari City Library at its central library building in August 2022. The exhibit featured materials such as interview photos of Kiyozumi, who, at 17, was the I-58's youngest crewmember when it embarked on its wartime mission. Izumi Tagawa Harris, a 57-year-old faculty member at Indiana University's Indianapolis campus, found an article about the exhibit online. Harris, who has been communicating with an association that represents the survivors of the USS Indianapolis and the families of those whose lives were lost at sea in the attack, notified the association about the article.

Harris was entrusted with messages from Bray and four of the association's families before visiting Japan to prepare a peace-themed tour of Hiroshima and Nagasaki scheduled for U.S. university students next summer, with the assistance of the Japan Foundation, a public body that promotes cultural exchanges.

Harris gave Bray's letter to Kiyozumi at the library, along with photos of the now-96-year-old smiling. After reading the message, Kiyozumi smiled and said, "I'm happy to know he and I shared the same feelings," adding, "War is nothing but a waste. We must never let people kill each other."

Bray's letter is as follows:

Dear Mr. Kiyozumi,

My name is Harold Bray and I am the last survivor of the USS Indianapolis CA-35. I understand that you are the last survivor of your submarine, I-58.
I want to extend my hand in friendship to you and to tell you that I bear no ill will towards you or your fellow countrymen. We both fought for our countries and now that the war is over, this is a time for healing. There are no winners in a war. Both sides lose so much - shipmates, families, friends.
I offer my thanks to your Captain Hashimoto for speaking up for my Captain McVay and saying that his court martial was unjust. Let us look forward to working together to build a better, safer world.

Sincerely,
Harold J Bray, S2
USS Indianapolis CA-35

Article Credits:
IMABARI, Ehime
THE MAINICHI, Japan’s National Daily, June 18, 2023

That's a fantastic story F4U. Thanks for posting it.

Truly a great read and superb thread,

For some1 like myself that has never been to the states these type of stories are very interesting.

A great read...

Benicia, CA - Northern California chief petty officer (CPO) selectees chat with Harold Bray, the last USS Indianapolis (CA 35) survivor at his home on Sept. 27, 2023. After the CPO selectees sang Anchors Aweigh, Bray, 96, discussed circumstances related to the Indianapolis sinking including surviving in shark infested waters for five days and his direct contributions to saving the lives of 18 Sailors. Bray further discussed his love of the Navy and gave the CPO selectees advice on how to maximize their military careers. The 24 Navy northern California CPOs selectees and one Marine honorary CPO selectee are from Navy Reserve Center (NRC) Alameda, NRC Sacramento, NRC San Jose, and Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 3 Detachment Travis Air Force Base. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist John Pearl)

Those are some great photos!

What Panzer said !!


Wheels