Posted on 10/31/2008 6:17:18 PM PDT by Oyarsa
YOKOSUKA, Japan - When the submarine USS Ohio surfaced at sea and Machinist Mate 1st Class Jason Witty emerged from the hatch to look around, he saw calm, blue water under a peaceful sky — perfect for the solemn task he was about to perform.
On the map, the Ohio was afloat in just another indistinguishable expanse of the Pacific Ocean. As Witty stood on deck holding a silver pitcher, the vessel was alone.
Just like the ill-fated USS Indianapolis, 63 years earlier.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
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God rest you BM2 Morgan. How ironic that you were laid to rest from the deck of a submarine.
Thanks for posting this. Im an old navy dog myself and Im going to meet both a survivor and a rescuer of the Indianapolis in 2 weeks in Northern NJ. The rescuer lives in my town.
God bless and Prayers.
Wow, your cousin was certainly fortunate. I wonder how many missed ship’s movement that day.
If you know the story those poor guys suffered a terrible fate, one I pray none of us ever has to find out first hand.
That was very moving. What a tragedy that sinking. RIP BM2c Morgan.
Hooper: You were on the Indianapolis?
Brody: What happened?
Quint: 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 come 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 in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.
Farewell and adeiu, ye fair Spanish ladies....
Show me the way to go home, boom, boom, boom, boom. I’m tired and I wanna go to bed...
Home is the sailor, home from the sea.
And the hunter home from the hill.
Rest in peace until Jesus calls us all home, shipmate.
Odd how they have not found the Indianapolis yet.
RIP.
That last line hit like a torpedo. No matter what, they did their duty.
Quint’s monologue is one of the most brilliant bits of film I’ve ever seen. It ratchets up the intensity of an already intense movie. Not to be overly dramatic, but once he’s done, it’s like you’re no longer just watching a movie — you’re there on the boat with those guys, and there’s no way out.
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