by Lynn Vincent
The two forward turrets, held in only by gravity and their 250-ton bulk, tumbled from the hull and embedded in the mud. The forward structures above the communications deck, including the radio room, the signal bridge, the navigation bridge, the air target designation platform, the main 8-inch director, and the radar antennae were all wrested from the hull. Torn clear of the ship, they lay mostly facedown and crumpled in a detached pile on the seafloor amidst a tangle of lines and cables.
Examinations of the wreck show two torpedo strikes (frames 12 and 45), not three as Hashimoto thought he saw. Hull plating blown outward in the forward sections of the ship indicate that internal explosions may account for what Hashimoto thought was a third hit.
The wreck, considered a war grave, still belongs to the Navy. Recognizing its importance, the Naval History and Heritage Command had invested some forethought in how to announce its discovery. They engaged former Indianapolis submarine captain and honorary survivor William Toti to deliver the news to the nineteen survivors still living at the time. With only a four-hour head start before the official public announcement, Toti worked together with this book’s coauthor, Sara Vladic, to spread the word. And then, on August 19 at 9 a.m. PST, Paul G. Allen broke the news of his team’s discovery, unleashing a torrent of reactions across the world.
“Holy God!” said survivor Dick Thelen, then ninety years old. “I never thought this day would come in my lifetime.” Echoes of his life’s motto came to his mind. “I’m glad they didn’t give up until they found it.”
Edgar Harrell expressed what a great gift this was, as he prepared to celebrate his seventieth wedding anniversary later that day with his wife, Ola Mae, who was his sweetheart before he sailed on Indy’s final voyage.
After Indy was found, calls went out across the country to survivors and family members of those men who were lost at sea, and their reactions, although varied, had the same tone. Amazement followed by reverence. Finding the ship provided a measure of peace, but it didn’t change the outcome. There was happiness, but not jubilation.
For the families of the lost at sea, the news stirred high emotions, bringing back memories many had sealed away for decades. After nearly three-quarters of a century, children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren were finding the peace that their parents and grandparents had sought for so many years.
Earl Henry, Jr., the son of lost-at-sea dentist Lieutenant Commander Earl Henry, Sr., was puzzled at his own emotions regarding the discovery. He had never met his father, and had heard only his voice via an old recording kept by his mother, Jane. Even so, he felt more connected to his father than many children who had lost a parent in the sinking. Once he had time to absorb the news, his emotions unexpectedly broke through. After a lifetime of uncertain longing, he finally knew where his father was. The discovery provided fresh fire for Earl Junior’s longtime efforts to preserve his father’s memory. He travels the country, sharing his father’s stories and artwork. It is a fitting tribute to the way Henry proudly showed little Earl’s picture to everyone on the ship.
A couple of weeks after the discovery, the Petrel team fanned out to visit some survivors in their homes. Paul Mayer paid a special visit to ninety-three-year-old survivor Louis “Kayo” Erwin, a fellow resident of Chattanooga. Seventy-two years earlier, Kayo had been part of the deck gang that loaded the atomic bomb onto the ship at Mare Island. As he sat in his comfortable chair surrounded by family, Kayo watched as Paul showed new images of the little cubbyhole on the port side where he had hung his hammock just minutes before the torpedo strike. Having spent two years aboard Indianapolis, Kayo sat in stunned awe. The images were so clear, it was easy to remember the last gun he had fired and the last place he touched on the ship.
John Woolston, now a retired Navy captain after an illustrious career as a chief engineer, also hosted a quartet of guests in his Honolulu home. There, Rob Kraft and Paul Mayer traded looks with Janet Greenlee, keeper of the AUV’s detailed sonar image of the wreck site. They were deciding whether to reveal the image to Woolston and his close friend, honorary survivor Kim Roller. The team is so dedicated to preserving the sanctity of the site as a war grave that they have used cloak-and-dagger techniques such as spoofed GPS readings on video feeds and turning off the Petrel’s locator to disguise Indy’s true location.
But this man, they felt, deserved to know. Greenlee pulled out a broad sheet of paper and spread it across the coffee table. Woolston, who doesn’t take naps, show weakness, miss work, or catch colds, was on high alert. It would be the first time he would lay eyes on Indy since 1945.
As he surveyed the image of the ship, so startlingly vivid and well preserved, he breathed the same comment again and again: “Fantastic.”
The next day, seated in the wardroom of the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor, John got a private showing of the ROV video from the wreck. His engineer’s perspective brought to life small details about the wreckage and its state of preservation. He found the portholes in the officers’ wardroom of particular interest. After dropping his sandwich and locating a wrench with the steward, the portholes had saved his life all those years ago. He wanted to see them again, curious about their size and how he might have fit. As all gathered around the monitor, Woolston opined in a rare deadpan tone, “Maybe I made them bigger in my mind so my hips would fit through.”
The room erupted in laughter. Minutes later, many in the room held back tears as Woolston recounted holding dying shipmates in his arms in the very same waters where these images had been taken.
• • •
Eighteen thousand feet below the surface, the ROV’s thrusters rotate it away from the wreck for the last time. Recalled to its mothership on the surface, the boxy vehicle takes its host of lights, cameras, and sensors with it. Once again, darkness envelops the ship’s proud lines, and Lieutenant Commander Kasey Moore’s first love readies herself for night operations.
Lights out on deck, her hatches are open to keep her compartments cool on a steamy tropical night. Her teak foredeck is clear, ready for the footfalls of sailors on watch. Leaning just slightly to starboard, it’s as if she’s cresting a wave, shrugging off another swell on her way to an important mission. Guns trained toward the sky, Indianapolis is ready for all that might challenge her, forever on patrol.
FINAL SAILING LIST USS INDIANAPOLIS
ABBOTT, George Stanley, S1
ACOSTA, Charles Mack, MM3
ADAMS, Leo Harry, S1*
ADAMS, Pat Leon, S2
ADORANTE, Dante William, S2
AKINES, William Roy, S2*
ALBRIGHT, Charles Erskine, Jr., Cox
ALLARD, Vincent Jerome, QM3*
ALLEN, Paul Franklin, S1
ALLMARAS, Harold Dean, F2
ALTSCHULER, Allan Harvey, S2*
ALVEY, Edward Wuites, Jr., AerM2
AMICK, Homer Irwin, S2
ANDERSEN, Lawrence Joseph, SKD2
ANDERSON, Erick Thorwald, S2*
ANDERSON, Leonard Ole, MM3
ANDERSON, Sam General, S2
ANDERSON, Vincent Udell, BMl
ANDERSON, Richard Lew, F2
ANDREWS, William Robert, S2*
ANNIS, James Bernard, Jr., CEM
ANTHONY, Harold Robert, PHM3
ANTONIE, Charles Jacob, F2
ANUNTI, John Melvin, M2*
ARMENTA, Lorenzo, SC2
ARMISTEAD, John Harold, S2*
ARNOLD, Carl Lloyd, AMM3
ASHFORD, Chester Windell, WT2
ASHFORD, John Thomas, Jr., RT3*
ATKINSON, J. P., COX
AULL, Joseph Harry, S2
AULT, William Frazier, S2*
AYOTTE, Lester James, S2
BACKUS, Thomas Hawkins, LT (jg)
BAKER, Daniel Albert, S2
BAKER, Frederick Harold, S2
BAKER, William Marvin, Jr., EM2
BALDRIDGE, Clovis Roger, EM1*
BALL, Emmet Edwin, S2
BALLARD, Courtney Jackson, SSMB3
BARENTHIN, Leonard William, S2
BARKER, Robert Craig, Jr., RT1
BARKSDALE, Thomas Leon, FC3
BARNES, Paul Clayton, F2
BARNES, Willard Merlin, MM1
BARRA, Raymond James, CGM
BARRETT, James Benedict, S2
BARRY, Charles, LT (jg)
BARTO, Lloyd Peter, S1*
BARTON, George Sydney, Y3
BATEMAN, Bernard Byron, F2*
BATENHORST, Wilfred John, MM3
BATSON, Eugene Clifford, S2
BATTEN, Robert Edmon, S1
BATTS, Edward Daniel, STM1
BEANE, James Albert, F2*
BEATY, Donald Lee, S1*
BECKER, Myron Melvin, WT2
BEDDINGTON, Charles Earnest, S1
BEDSTED, Leo Alfred Kergaard, F1
BEISTER, Richard James, WT3
BELCHER, James Robert, S1*
BELL, Maurice Glenn, S1*
BENNETT, Dean Randall, HA1
BENNETT, Ernest Franklin, B3
BENNETT, Toney Wade, ST3
BENNING, Harry, S1
BENTON, Clarence Upton, CFC*
BERNACIL, Concepcion Peralta, FC3*
BERRY, Joseph, Jr., STM1
BERRY, William Henry, ST3
BEUKEMA, Kenneth Jay, S2
BEUSCHLEIN, Joseph Carl, S2
BIDDISON, Charles Lawrence, S1
BILLINGS, Robert Burton, ENS
BILLINGSLEY, Robert Frederick, GM3
BILZ, Robert Eugene, S2
BISHOP, Arthur, Jr., S2
BITONTI, Louis Peter, S1*
BLACKWELL, Fermon Malachi, SSML3
BLANTHORN, Bryan, S1*
BLUM, Donald Joseph, ENS*
BOEGE, Raynard Richard, S2
BOGAN, Jack Roberts, RM1
BOLLINGER, Richard Howard, S1
BOOTH, Sherman Chester, S1*
BORTON, Herbert Elton, SC2
BOSS, Norbert George, S2
BOTT, Wilbur Melvin, S2
BOWLES, Eldridge Wayne, S1
BOWMAN, Charles Edward, CTC
BOYD, Troy Howard, GM3
BRADLEY, William Hearn, S2
BRAKE, John, Jr., S2
BRANDT, Russell Lee, F2*
BRAUN, Neal Fredrick, S2
BRAY, Harold John, Jr., S2*
BRICE, R. V., S2
BRIDGE, Wayne Aron, S2
BRIGHT, Chester Lee, S2
BRILEY, Harold Vinton, MAM3
BRINKER, David Allen, PFC USMC
BROOKS, Ulysess Ray, CWT
BROPHY, Thomas D’Arcy, Jr., ENS
BROWN, Edward Augustus, WT3
BROWN, Edward Joseph, S1*
BROWN, Orlo Norman, PFC USMC
BRUCE, Russell William, S2
BRULE, Maurice Joseph, S2
BRUNDIGE, Robert Henry, S1*
BRUNEAU, Charles Albino, GM3
BUCKETT, Victor Robert, Y2*
BUDISH, David, S2
BULLARD, John Kenneth, S1*
BUNAI, Robert Peter, SM1*
BUNN, Horace G., S2
BURDORF, Wilbert John, COX*
BURKHARTSMEIER, Anton Tony, S1
BURKHOLTZ, Frank, Jr., EM3
BURLESON, Martin Lafayette, S1
BURRS, John William, S1
BURT, William George Allan, QM3
BURTON, Curtis Henry, S1*
BUSH, John Richard, PVT USMC
BUSHONG, John Richard, GM3
CADWALLADER, John Julian, RT3
CAIN, Alfred Brown, RT3
CAIRO, William George, BUG1
CALL, James Edward, RM3
CAMERON, John Watson, GM2
CAMP, Garrison, STM2
CAMPANA, Paul, RDM3
CAMPBELL, Hamer Edward, Jr., GM3*
CAMPBELL, Louis Dean, AOM3*
CAMPBELL, Wayland Dee, SF3
CANDALINO, Paul Louis, LT (jg)
CANTRELL, Billy George, F2
CARNELL, Lois Wayne, S2
CARPENTER, Willard Adolphus, SM3
CARR, Harry Leroy, S2
CARROLL, Gregory Krichbaum, S1
CARROLL, Rachel Walker, COX
CARSON, Clifford, F1
CARSTENSEN, Richard, S2
CARTER, Grover Clifford, S2*
CARTER, Lindsey Linvill, S2*
CARTER, Lloyd George, COX*
CARVER, Grover Cleveland, S1*
CASSIDY, John Curran “Jack,” S1*
CASTALDO, Patrick Peter, GM2
CASTIAUX, Ray Vernon, S2
CASTO, William Harrison, S1
CAVIL, Robert Ralph, MM2
CAVITT, Clinton Columbus, WT3
CELAYA, Adolfo Uvaldo, F2*
CENTAZZO, Frank Joseph, SM3*
CHAMNESS, John Desel, S2*
CHANDLER, Lloyd Nyle, S2
CHART, Joseph, EM3
CHRISTIAN, Lewis Enoch, Jr., WO
CLARK, Eugene, CK3
CLARK, Orsen, S2*
CLEMENTS, Harold Preston, S2
CLINTON, George William, S1*
CLINTON, Leland Jack, LT (jg)
COBB, William Lester, MOMM3
COLE, Walter Henry, CRM
COLEMAN, Cedric Foster, LCDR
COLEMAN, Robert Edward, F2*
COLLIER, Charles Rives, RM2*
COLLINS, James, STM1
COLVIN, Frankie Lee, SSMT2
CONDON, Barna Theodore, RDM1
CONNELLY, David Fallon, ENS
CONRAD, James Patrick, EM3
CONSER, Donald Lynn, SC2
CONSIGLIO, Joseph William, FC2
CONWAY, Thomas Michael, LT (Rev)
COOK, Floyd Edward, SF3
COOPER, Dale, Jr., F2
COPELAND, Willard James, S2
COSTNER, Homer Jackson, COX*
COUNTRYMAN, Robert Earl, S2
COWEN, Donald Rodney, FC3*
COX, Alford Edward, GM3
COX, Loel Dene, S2*
CRABB, Donald Calvin, RM2
CRANE, Granville Shaw, Jr., MM2*
CREWS, Hugh Coachman, LT (jg)
CRITES, Orval D., WT1
CROMLING, Charles John, Jr., PLTSGT
USMC
CROUCH, Edwin Mason, CAPT***
CRUM, Charles Junior, S2
CRUZ, Jose Santos, CCK
CURTIS, Erwin Eugene, CTC
DAGENHART, Charles Romeo, Jr., PHM2
DALE, Elwood Richard, F1
DANIEL, Harold William, CBM*
DANIELLO, Anthony Gene, S1
DAVIS, James Clark, RM3
DAVIS, Kenneth Graham, F1
DAVIS, Stanley Gilbert, LT (jg)
DAVIS, Thomas Edward, SM2
DAVIS, William Holmes, PFC USMC
DAY, Richard Raymond, Jr., S2
DEAN, John Thomas, Jr., S2
DeBERNARDI, Louie, BM1*
DeFOOR, Walton, RDM3
DeMARS, Edgar Joseph, CBM
DeMENT, Dayle Pershing, S1
DENNEY, Lloyd, Jr., S2
DEWING, Ralph Otto, FC3*
DEZELSKE, William Bruce, MM2*
DIMOND, John Nelson, S2
DOLLINS, Paul, RM2
DONALD, Lyle Herbert, EM1
DONEY, William Junior, F2
DORMAN, William Burns, S1
DORNETTO, Frank Paul, WT1
DOSS, James Monroe, S2
DOUCETTE, Roland Ordean, S2
DOUGLAS, Gene Dale, F2*
DOVE, Bassil Raymond, SKD2
DOWDY, Lowell Steven, CCM
DRANE, James Anthony, GM3
DRAYTON, William Harry, EM2*
DRISCOLL, David Lowell, LT (jg)
DRONET, Joseph E. J., S2*
DRUMMOND, James Joseph, F2
DRURY, Richard Eugene, S2
DRYDEN, William Howard, MM1*
DUFRAINE, Delbert Elmer, S1
DUNBAR, Jess Lee, F2
DUPECK, Albert, Jr., PFC USMC
DURAND, Ralph Joseph, Jr., S2
DYCUS, Donald, S2
EAKINS, Morris Bradford, F2
EAMES, Paul Herford, Jr., ENS
EASTMAN, Chester Steve, S2
ECK, Harold Adam, S2*
EDDINGER, John William, S1
EDDY, Richard Leroy, RM3
EDWARDS, Alwyn Curtis, F2
EDWARDS, Roland James, BM1
E’GOLF, Harold Wesley, S2
ELLIOTT, Kenneth Albert, S1
ELLIOTT, Harry William, S2
EMERY, William Friend, S1
EMSLEY, William Joseph, S1
ENGELSMAN, Ralph, S2
EPPERSON, Ewell, S1
EPPERSON, George Lensey, S1
ERICKSON, Theodore Mentzer, S2*
ERNST, Robert Carl, F2
ERWIN, Louis Harold “Kayo,” COX*
ETHIER, Eugene Edwin, EM3*
EUBANKS, James Harold, S1
EVANS, Arthur Jerome, PHM2
EVANS, Claudus, GM3*
EVERETT, Charles Norman, EM2
EVERS, Lawrence Lee, CMM
EYET, Donald Archie, S1
FANTASIA, Frank Alfred, F2
FARBER, Sheldon Lee, S2
FARLEY, James William, S1
FARMER, Archie Calvin, COX*
FARRIS, Eugene Francis, S1*
FAST HORSE, Vincent, S2
FEAKES, Fred Atkinson, AOM1*
FEDORSKI, Nicholas Walter, S1*
FEENEY, Paul Ross, S2
FELTS, Donald J., BM1*
FERGUSON, Albert Edward, CMMA*
FERGUSON, Russel Myers, RT3
FIGGINS, Harley Dean, WT2
FIRESTONE, Kenneth Francis, FC2
FIRMIN, John Alden Homer, S2
FITTING, Johnny Wayne, GM1*
FLATEN, Harold James “Hap,” WT2*
FLEISCHAUER, Donald William, S1
FLESHMAN, Vern Leslie, S2
FLYNN, James Madison, Jr., S1
FLYNN, Joseph Ambrose, CDR
FOELL, Cecil Duane, ENS
FORTIN, Verlin Laverre, WT3*
FOSTER, Verne Elmer, F2*
FOX, William Henry, Jr., F2*
FRANCOIS, Norbert Edward, F1*
FRANK, Rudolph Anthony, S2
FRANKLIN, Jack Ray, RDM3
FREEZE, Howard Bruce, LT (jg)
FRENCH, Douglas Orrin, FC3
FRENCH, Jimmy Junior, QM3
FRITZ, Leonard Albert, MM3
FRONTINO, Vincent Fred, MOMM3
FRORATH, Donald Henry, S2
FUCHS, Herman Ferdinand, CWO