76 Yrs ago 1,100 men went into the water...

[pfrederi 17,741]

Four days later only 316 were rescued.  It was the greatest single loss of life at sea from a single ship in the history of the US Navy. Robert Shaw's soliloquy from Jaws is pretty powerful.  I salute all the Navy Vets here on Red Square.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35)#Sinking

 

 

 

[ri702bill 8,334]

I agree indeed. Back in the 1980's I worked with this cantankerous older guy during my first machine assembly job. He could really get under your skin - he loved to play practical jokes on everyone, but there was holy hell to pay if you did one on him - we have all met that type of person.

It never dawned on me why he always wore long sleeve work shirts, even on the hottest of summer days. We were washing up at the end of shift and took his shirt off as he had gotten quite a bit of grease on it.

I looked at him and saw his USS Indianapolis tattoo on his arm. He was one of the 316 that were rescued, but refused to talk about it. I did gain a bit more respect for him that day ......

Bill

[peter lena 8,634]

@ri702bill , years ago there was a postal carrier , named roger Evans, he also had some tattoos on his arms , very nice guy , with humility that exuded virtually anything he did, turned out he was a bosuns mate in 1941 assigned to the British army   for island hopping . was captured by Japanese army , pow for more than 4 years , building railroad across jungles and mountains . tattoos were a name and  jungle route line , on his inner arms . wanted someone to know what he had done .  ww2 was very tough for a lot of people , glad to have known him, pete  

[Handy Don 12,235]

The Indianpolis' story, during and since, is a sad stain on the US Navy's history. With plenty of ignorance, dereliction, and even racism on display as well as amazing professionalism, grit, determination, and outright heroism. It deserves the time to give it a full read. It would be a great honor to know one of the survivors.

 

Only many, many years after the war was her captain, posthumously, cleared of blame for the incident when the testimony of the captain of the Japanese submarine that launched the torpedoes was reluctantly accepted (he declared that even had the ship been zigzagging, he would have easily sunk it).

Edited July 29, 2021 by Handy Don

[roadapples 6,983]

My Dad was army. Philippines and New Guinea. He wouldn't talk about  it either. 

[Pullstart 62,911]

I hung out this past weekend with a good handful of vets, two from the Navy.  They talked about many good times, mainly girls and partying, etc.  The two guys met on 9/11 and shortly after they received orders to go defend our nation.  I still don’t know if they’ve killed, been shot at, or the nitty gritty.  Maybe some day.  Maybe not.  Thank you all who have served, thank you for putting yourself last and others before you.  Such a humble act.

[Handy Don 12,235]

3 hours ago, pullstart said:

Such a humble act.

The husband of a close friend of my wife needed some systems help and my wife volunteered me. Over several years helping him, I came to learn that he'd been a loadmaster flying supplies "over the hump" into China during WWII. He made it sound so "matter-of-fact". I did some research to learn what a dangerous mission he had survived. 

Humble acts.

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

All in returning from a mission which may have saved countless American and Japanese lives from a protracted war. "Greater love has no man, than he lay down his life for that of his friend(another)"

[tom2p 2,394]

On 7/29/2021 at 5:27 PM, Handy Don said:

The husband of a close friend of my wife needed some systems help and my wife volunteered me. Over several years helping him, I came to learn that he'd been a loadmaster flying supplies "over the hump" into China during WWII. He made it sound so "matter-of-fact". I did some research to learn what a dangerous mission he had survived. 

Humble acts.

greatest generation 

 

[RandyLittrell 3,884]

On 7/29/2021 at 11:27 AM, roadapples said:

My Dad was army. Philippines and New Guinea. He wouldn't talk about  it either. 

 

My Grandpa was there too. If never talked about, but he did tell us once about when they came to shore. The boat didn't get all the way to shore and when the guys in front of him were jumping in the water, they would sink and not come up with all the stuff in there packs. He took off his pack and got rid of his gun and was able to make it to shore and find what he needed on shore. 

 

 

 

 

Randy