I had an uncle go down with the Indianapolis July 30, 1945. (65 years ago today) They were torpedoed and the ship went down in about 15 minutes. I can't remember the exact number of sailors who actually made it off the ship, but the ones that did were left in the water for 5 days before they were rescued. In '95 I was privileged to go to the 50th reunion, in Indy, of the sinking of the ship. It was amazing. The survivors are truly heros and great men. I have never felt as honored as I did just shaking the hands of these men and talking with them. Their have been many that have passed on and very few left now. My purpose of this post is to ask you to maybe stop, say a prayer, or, just take a minute in rememberance of these brave men and their families. Also, remember all of us that lost men when the ship went down. I never met my uncle of, course, but I feel like I knew him from all the family. We, as a family try to remember and honor the ships sinking each year, so I thought I'd share it with all of you. If you ever go to Indianapolis, there is a beautiful monument for the ship, the survivors and non-survivors, try to visit it. Thanks everyone. God Bless the USS Indianapolis, still at sea, her missions and the proud sailors that were her crew.
Aye, here's to swimmin with bowlegged women. Seriously though it was a terrible ordeal for all involved, and something akin to my personal worst nightmare, I cant think of many worse predicaments to be in than that. Shark experts say the Oceanic Whitetip shark may be responsible for more human deaths than any other shark, but because many were unknown deep sea shipwreck victims they have no idea what the actual number may be. Also, I think shark week is coming on TV, crazy stuff. Thanks for tossing out a bit of history DD, always good to remember events like this.
definitely will be thinking about all those guys that gave their life for us. I've seen the documentary on the Indianapolis a few times and all those men were heros.
Thanks for sharing your personal connection to one of the most harrowing, yet gripping events in war history.
A horrific event.... The Worst Naval Disaster in US History At 12:14 a.m. on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine Sea and sank in 12 minutes. Of 1,196 men on board, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remainder, about 900 men, were left floating in shark-infested waters with no lifeboats and most with no food or water. The ship was never missed, and by the time the survivors were spotted by accident four days later only 316 men were still alive. http://www.ussindianapolis.org/story.htm
Thank you so much I wish I knew how to post all the infor etc. My uncle was Ewell Epperson. The Navy sent us all his papers, medals etc. Even the telegrams that first said he was MIA and the final one. I may not have been alive then, but anytime I see any thing about this tradgedy, it, makes me so sad that I never knew him. He was my moms youngest brother. We have always made ourselves believe he went immediately and did not suffer. I still love the US Navy tho' and admired Capt. McVey for his actions . Just about my whole family is Navy. We have a special picture wall with pics of them, their ships and class pics. Thanks again.
Crazy thing is they were rescued by pure luck mostly when a passing plane happened to spot them. Can you imagine if it hadnt? For anyone who didnt know, the Indy was returning from delivering the A-bomb components from Guam to Hawaii. It was a top secret mission, meaning few people knew about it, and none were expecting the ship to report for awhile. When it went down, it did so without sending any signals, thus nobody knew the ship was sunk and there were survivors in the water. Quite the harrowing story. The character of Quint from the great movie Jaws was based off such a survivor. And yeah that doc. is pretty good Used to be more of a WW2 buff but have fallen off since college
Yeah, that was a sad and tragic situation. Similar to the USS Juneau, which sank in 1942. All but 10 guys survived after floating in the ocean for 8 days. All 5 Sullivan Brothers died in the sinking, and the basis for 'Saving Private Ryan' was based on them. That would be the worst thing ever. Floating around in the dark and then feeling something tugging at your leg, with no way to get ready for it. I can't believe how those guys on the Indianapolis got stranded out there like that with no help, and then to surive. Those guys are real heroes.
The movie is pretty accurate. There's some good books on it. My son has them all, but I can't recall the titles.
We met the mans wife that was flying that plane. He had passed away, but talking to her and their daughter was amazing. More men died in the water than when the ship sunk. I wish everyone could have met the survivors we did. There's just no way to describe them. We never found any one who knew uncle Ewell. The men said he must have went down with all the guys he knew and worked with. We were so disappointed that no one remembered him, but it was an honor to be associated with them those few days.
EPPERSON, Ewell, S2 EPPERSON, George L., S1 So just Ewell?.....was George a relation? Or just a coincidence with same name?
Just a coincidence. I wish you guys could see the monument,all the names are on there. It has clear blue water, a ships bell they ring at the re-unions. The men were in tears at the dedication. All the big Navy brass was there. The only thing said was that it took 50 years for these men to be honored and the Captain never got to see it, or know he was exonerated. His sons fought for it and finally got him cleared. A young boy started a campaign to get McVays name cleared after studying about the sinking and really helped the cause. He was all over the tv. It's been several years ago of course.
Yeah, it did. From every thing I've read,studied and heard from the survivors, he was a good man, a great captain, cared for his men and his ship. They said he just couldn't get over the suffering he saw and the fact that he lived and all those men perished while under his watch.
