Were You in the Water Sir?

My father was a World War II Navy Veteran. For most  of my life, I never heard him talk about his service,  except for the rare times he would tell stories about he  and mother on shore leave when they were newly  married. 

This is, I believe, the way most WW2 vets, and any  combat veterans behave. It’s just not something to talk  about.  

All of this changed when a Harvard professor  contacted me to make arrangements to interview my  dad about his time aboard ship. Professor Tom  Generous eventually wrote a book about the USS  Portland, Sweet Pea at War, with several quotes and  stories from my dad. 

I had read about the USS Indianapolis, and what  happened to her. I never gave it much thought until my  father mentioned, during the book interview, that his  ship, the USS Portland, was tied up next to the Indy,  both waiting to take aboard atomic bomb parts to be secretly transported to a forward allied base on the  island of Tinian.  

They put the bomb parts on the Indy, and off she went  with my dad’s ship acting as a decoy. The rest is  history. 

Years later, while paying my bill at a big chain steak  restaurant, I noticed a family waiting to get a table.  Mom, dad, three small kids, and grampa. Grampa  wore a baseball cap with USS Indianapolis on the  front. He and I made eye contact after he caught me  staring at his hat. 

I walked over to the family and said to him, “Pardon  me, were you in the water Sir?” 

For my efforts I got a hard glare from this old salt.  Recognizing “the look”, which I had gotten from my  own father many times, I immediately followed up with,  “My dad was aboard the Portland.” This instantly and  completely changed his countenance. He smiled,  stuck out his hand, shook mine, and asked my father’s  name and rate. We talked for a couple of minutes  about the day those two twin ships were tied up next  to each other. 

By now his daughter had taken a keen interest in this  weird guy talking to her father. As we got around to the  awful events that happened, the old sailor was very  candid with me about being in the shark infested water  for five days.  

I listened carefully and expressed my total amazement  at his story. I thanked him profusely for what he and  his shipmates had given for us all, finally saying that I  wish my dad was alive and here with us for this  meeting. He squeezed my arm and thanked me for my  father’s service. 

As I was saying my goodbyes, I said to his daughter,  “Your father is a hero, he and his shipmates, their  sacrifice saved us all.” 

She looked at me, confused, and then to her father.  “What is he talking about? When were you in the  water? What happened to you? Your ship was SUNK?” 

What happened to her view of reality from that  moment, I will never know. I am not sorry that I  accidentally caused this hero to “spill the beans” to his family about his heroic acts. 

USS Indianapolis crew complement – 1,195.

300 crew killed when torpedoed by a Japanese  submarine 

895 crew in the water for five days 

316 survived  

I really missed my dad on the walk out to my car.