USS Indianapolis, CA-35
It's Memorial Day in the USA, and this year I am saluting the US Navy men of the Second World War. The picture above is the USS Indianapolis monument in its namesake city. In July of 1944, the Indianapolis was given the job delivering the components of the Little Boy atomic bomb to Tinian Island in the Marianas, and none of the men on board other than two "artillery officers" knew what was in those crates. (My own father had served on Tinian in the 112th Seabees, one of several units that built the huge air base there.) After delivering the cargo, the Indianapolis sailed to Guam and then into the Philippine Sea where she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine just after midnight on July 30, 1945. The ship sank in 12 minutes without radioing her location. Over 300 men went down with the ship, and 583 died in the water under horrific conditions over the next several days. Only 316 were rescued. Those 883 men were the worst loss at sea in the history of the US Navy. Below is the reverse side of the monument with the names of the dead inscribed.
So while we enjoy our barbecues, excursions to the lake, or a trip to the beach,
stop for just a moment and remember these men and all the others like them.
They deserve our eternal respect.
A two part photo series follows.
I worked with one of the survivors.
ReplyDeleteWow, he must have been one tough survivor.
DeleteI worked with a survivor of the Bataan Death March. When he got home in 1945, he found that his girlfriend of 1941 thought he was dead and married another man. He never got over it-Dee Exx
ReplyDeleteAnother sad story. The losses came in many forms.
DeleteI can only think of the hell not only of the men left fighting to survive in the ocean. But also the hell Captain Charles Butler McVay III was put through after the war, a vindictive court martial which was a complete disgrace on the part of the US Navy.
ReplyDeleteGryf
Later on, the Navy revisited the way Capt. McVay had been treated, and they walked back nearly all of the punitive stuff. Still, he had to endure years of shame and abuse.
DeleteWhen I see the photos of sailors and soldiers I think of how young they were and how many lost their lives for our freedom. However, it seems despite these great sacrifices our freedom is being slowly taken away from us today, and sadly young people today, the same age as the soldiers and sailors in the photos, don't appreciate what they have, know what they are losing or seem interested in fighting for it (not all young people but many). It greatly saddens me.
ReplyDeleteI largely agree and also find it sad.
DeleteWorse, we have an unfit thing for president who referred to our veterans as suckers and losers, as he desecrates the White House and dances on the graves of our war dead. A draft dodger with the bone spurs excuse of a rich boy, the type that are gung ho for war as long as they don’t serve. And many Americans support this insanity either directly or through their silence….:(
ReplyDelete