Survivors of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during WWII will gather at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis for their 67th anniversary reunion August 3 - 5. The men will commemorate the anniversary of the sinking of their ship and honor their lost shipmates who perished in 1945 as well as those who have passed away since the disaster.
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. The Indy had just completed the mission of delivering component parts of the first atomic bomb to the US Air Base at Tinian.
Of 1196 crewmen on board, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remainder, about 900 men, were left floating in shark infested waters with no lifeboats, food or water. The ship was never missed, and by the time the survivors were spotted by accident nearly five days later, only 317 were still alive. Of those, less than 50 are alive today. The sinking of the ship was the Navy's worst open sea disaster.
Survivors, along with their families and friends, will attend the reunion in Indianapolis. Educational displays and programs are scheduled daily and most are open to the public. Survivors will also be available to meet and greet the general public, and on Saturday, August 4, 2012, children can meet a survivor at the Westin Hotel in the lobby at 1:30 p.m.
The reunion will conclude on Sunday, August 5, with a memorial service at 9 a.m. The public is invited to attend the memorial service that will take place inside the Westin, located at 50 S. Capital Avenue, Indianapolis, IN. Phone 317 262 8100 for more information.
For questions or additional information on the event please contact John W. Duncan at 317 862 6483 or email John at
riteguymazerd@msn.com