The change in standing is the results of intensive analysis between Naval Historical past and Heritage Command (NHHC), Navy Casualty Workplace, the USS Indianapolis Survivors Affiliation, the USS Indianapolis Legacy Group, and the Chief Rick Stone and Household Charitable Basis. The announcement helps deliver closure to the households of those Sailors who misplaced their lives on the finish of a secret mission which helped finish World Warfare II.
USS Indianapolis sank July 30, 1945 after being struck by two Japanese torpedoes.
The Sailors whose standing modified are:
Seaman 1st Class George Stanley Abbott
Seaman 2nd Class Eugene Clifford Batson
Gunner’s Mate 1st Class William Alexander Haynes
Seaman 2nd Class Albert Raymond Kelly
Seaman 1st Class Albert Davis Lundgren
Fireman 1st Class Ollie McHone
Seaman 2nd Class George David Payne
Storekeeper third Class Alvin Wilder Rahn
Ship’s Cook dinner third Class Jose Antonio Saenz
Coxswain Charles Byrd Sparks
Radioman 2nd Class Joseph Mason Pressure
Ship’s Service Man Laundryman third Class Angelo Anthony Sudano
Gunner’s Mate third Class Floyd Ralph Wolfe
Roughly 300 of the ship’s 1,195 Sailors went down with the ship, and a few 900 males have been set adrift. Solely 316 survived. Resulting from administrative errors, many Sailors who have been recovered from the ocean and buried at sea from responding vessels have been misclassified as “Lacking in Motion “or “Unaccounted for.”
Based on Rick Stone, who beforehand served at NHHC, he initiated the USS Indianapolis Burial at Sea Venture to find out if any Indianapolis casualties met this standards. Following his retirement from authorities service, he established the Chief Rick Stone and Household Charitable Basis to proceed the mission and positioned documentation proving the 13 Sailors have been misclassified.
Based on the muse’s USS Indianapolis Burial at Sea Venture internet web page, “recovering a misplaced Sailor, giving their family members and household closure, is the best reward we will think about and the best method to have a good time and thank the Sailors who misplaced their lives aboard the USS Indianapolis.”
“One in every of my favourite quotes is ‘Poor is the nation that has no heroes however shameful is the nation who, having heroes, forgets them,’” Stone stated. “Our basis will always remember the heroes of the USS Indianapolis and are pleased with our position in serving to 13 households be taught that the Navy went to nice lengths to honor them quickly after their deaths.”
Capt. Robert McMahon, director of the Navy Casualty Workplace, stated bringing closure to households of these misplaced at sea is a “solemn obligation and obligation” he takes to coronary heart.
“Nothing is extra essential to me than giving households that data when the unthinkable occurs,” he stated. “No period of time lessens the loss, nonetheless, if we will deliver some certainty to family members, even seven many years later, we’re conserving religion with these we misplaced.”
A kind of relations, William Baxter, nephew of Gunner’s Mate third Class Wolfe, was notified April 26 of the change in standing. Sailors from Naval Medical Readiness and Coaching Command (NMRTC) Beaufort, South Carolina, arrived at his door with a certificates and flag to acknowledge Wolfe’s sacrifice.
Baxter, an Okatie, South Carolina, native, stated whereas he didn’t know his uncle, “it’s good to lastly have some closure to what really occurred to [him]. Thanks all for going above and past for me and my household. I wasn’t anticipating all of this, however thanks.”
“It was an absolute honor and a privilege to be part of informing Mr. Baxter and his household of his uncle’s standing change, and in addition being part of historical past,” stated Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Naomi Corridor, one of many Sailors from NMRTC Beaufort concerned in making notifications.
Navy Casualty’s mission is offering well timed and first-class casualty help to Navy households when a Sailor is significantly sick or injured, is positioned in an obligation standing whereabouts unknown (DUSTWUN), or is said lacking and/or Prisoner of Warfare or dies. Study extra about Navy Casualty at:
https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Assist-Companies/Casualty/
Word to Media: For extra info, or to request an interview with households of the Sailors named, please contact Navy Personnel Command Public Affairs Mr. Gene Hughes at 901-874-2438, or NPCPAO@navy.mil.
