the worst naval disaster in u.s. history

Tomorrow, July 30, will mark the 61st anniversary of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. At 12:14 AM on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Phillipine Sea and sank in 12 minutes. Of 1196 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 4 days later only 316 men were still alive. Go to www.ussindianapolis.org for a very educational look back at this horrible tragedy. Also, in the spirit of rememberance, take a look at www.legion470.org/untilthen.html and www.legion470.org/remember911.html for a couple of wonderful tributes to the brave men and women who sacrifice so mightily to "secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity." Gratuitous political statement-- If you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed by the constant Anti-Freedom, Anti-Troops, Anti-American rhetoric of the modern left and their willing accomplices in the mainstream media, remind yourself that we have an all-volunteer military today, and these brave men and women are sacrificing mightily for the cause of freedom and the war against terrorism. They need/deserve our support, our thanks, and our prayers.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.--- Thomas Jefferson

Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte...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 an hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail. What we didn't know, was our bomb mission had been 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', so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old squares in the battle like you see in the calendar named "The Battle of Waterloo" and the idea was: shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark go away...but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark...he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living...until 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 the poundin' and the hollerin', they all 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, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon, the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us. He swung in low and he saw us...he was a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and he came in low and three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and starts 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 came out and the sharks took the rest, June 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.---Quint (gave wrong date). See www.thewallzzz.com/Videos.html for this classic video.