If you’d been standing on the beach at Bayou Liberty that winter in 1968, you might have seen a plane pass by overhead; you might have seen the door open and a small box tipped to the wind. The contents went scattering, like a twisting scarf of smoke.
A man’s bones and skin can be burned away into powder and ash, but what’s left is without form. Courage, duty, and honor have no permanent home.
What was left of Charles Butler McVay melted on the water and was gone.
EPILOGUE
Eternal father strong to save
whose arm does rule the restless wave …
Oh hear us when we pray to thee
for those in peril on the sea.
—U.S. NAVY HYMN,
Reverend William Whiting (1825—1878)
Twenty-eight years after Captain McVay’s death, in response to a 1996 request for a new investigation by the survivors of the USS Indianapolis, the U.S. Navy’s judge advocate general delivered this pronouncement: “The conclusion reached is that Captain McVay’s court-martial was legally sound; no injustice has been done, and remedial action is not warranted.”
Today, conspiracy theories abound among some survivors as they try to explain why Captain McVay was court-martialed. Some believe Admiral King was seeking revenge for a personal insult allegedly inflicted years earlier by McVay’s father. Still others believe the politically powerful father of one dead crew member successfully lobbied President Truman himself to press ahead with the trial. Ultimately, though, these theories add up to little. The court martial’s effect was the ruin of McVay’s career, and what remains today is the question of whether this was just.
The answer, explains Captain Bill Toti, a former U.S. Navy submarine commander, is negative. In a careful but biting critique of the navy’s treatment of the captain (published in October 1999 in Proceedings, a Naval Institute publication), Toti points out: “Here was a man who, because of the unique and absolute nature of the responsibility of command, was culpable for the misfortune that befell his ship—the captain’s own statements point to the fact that he understood this truth well.
“Despite that, there was nothing he could’ve done to prevent that misfortune, and he should never have been prosecuted in the first place. The lesson here is that a decision can be legally correct and still be unjust.”
In the years since the sinking many of the survivors of the disaster have worked tirelessly to clear their captain’s name. “The Indianapolis was a trim, fighting ship,” says Dr. Haynes, “and I would be proud to serve aboard her once again.” Or, as Bob Brundige, McCoy’s former raftmate, once said before his death in 1994, “We would’ve rode to hell with Captain McVay.”39
At a September 1999 hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, former marine private Giles McCoy defiantly told the panel of assembled navy admirals, “Captain McVay’s honor has been violated. You’re sitting here telling me Captain McVay hazarded our ship by failing to zigzag? I want to tell you, our ship was hazarded long before Captain McVay [left port].”
Later, says McCoy, one of the admirals “came up, grabbed my hand, and said, ‘I want to tell you, McCoy, you’re right.’
“But then he said, ‘Good luck,’ and walked away.
“I think we won the battle,” admits McCoy, “but we haven’t won the war.”
On October 12, 2000, that war began drawing to a close when Congress passed a resolution exonerating Rear Admiral Charles Butler McVay III. It also recommended a Unit citation for the final crew of the USS Indianapolis, fifty-five years after they came home from their solitary victory parade in San Diego.40
The resolution reads:
“(1) In light of the remission by the Secretary of the Navy of the sentence of the court-martial and the restoration of Captain McVay to active duty by the Chief of Naval Operations, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, that the American people should now recognize Captain McVay’s lack of culpability for the tragic loss of the USS Indianapolis and the lives of the men who died as a result of the sinking of that vessel; and
“(2) in light of the fact that certain exculpatory information was not available to the court-martial board and that Captain McVay’s conviction resulted therefrom, that Captain McVay’s military record should now reflect that he is exonerated for the loss of the USS Indianapolis and so many of her crew.”41
What the resolution doesn’t do, however, is expunge this conviction from his record. As of this writing, the survivors of the USS Indianapolis are still fighting for and awaiting this action, which would finally set their captain free.
THE FINAL CREW OF THE USS Indianapolis (CA35)
* Indicates a survivor
CREW AND OFFICERS
ABBOTT, George S., S1
ACOSTA, Charles M., MM3
ADAMS, Leo H., S1*
ADAMS, Pat L., S2
ADORANTE, Dante W, S2
AKINES, William R., S2*
ALBRIGHT, Charles E., Jr., COX
ALLARD, Vincent J., QM3*
ALLEN, Paul F., S1
ALLMARAS, Harold D., F2
ALTSCHULER, Allan H., S2 RDM*
ALVEY, Edward W., Jr., AerM2
AMICK, Homer I., S2
ANDERSEN, Lawrence J., SK2
ANDERSON, Erick T., S2*
ANDERSON, Leonard O., MM3
ANDERSON, Richard L., F2
ANDERSON, Sam G., S2
ANDERSON, Vincent U., BM1
ANDREWS, William R., S2*
ANNIS, James B., Jr., CEMA
ANTHONY, Harold R., PHM3
ANTONIE, Charles J., F2
ANUNTI, John M., M2*
ARMENTA, Lorenzo, SC2
ARMISTEAD, John H., S2*
ARNOLD, Carl Lloyd., AMM3
ASHFORD, Chester W., WT2
ASHFORD, John T., Jr., RT3*
ATKINSON, J.P., COX
AULL, Joseph Harry, S2
AULT, William F., S2*
AYOTTE, Lester J., S2 RDM
BACKUS, Thomas H., LT (jg)
BAKER, Daniel Albert, S2
BAKER, Frederick H., S2 RDM
BAKER, William M., Jr., EM1
BALDRIDGE, Clovis R., EM3*
BALL, Emmet Edwin, S2
BALLARD, Courtney J., SSM3
BARENTHIN, Leonard W. S1 FC
BARKER, Robert C., Jr., RT1
BARKSDALE, Thomas L., FC3
BARNES, Paul C., F2
BARNES, Willard M., MMI
BARRA, Raymond James, CGMA
BARRETT, James B., S2
BARRY, Charles., LT (jg)
BARTO, Lloyd Peter, S1*
BARTON, George S., Y3
BATEMAN, Bernard B., F2 WT*
BATENHORST, Wilfred J., MM3
BATSON, Eugene C., S2 RDM
BATTEN, Robert Edmon, S1 GM
BATTS, Edward Daniel, STM1
BEANE, James Albert, F2*
BEATY, Donald Lee, S1*
BECKER, Myron Melvin, WT2
BEDDINGTON, Charles E., S1
BEDSTED, Leo A. K., FIMoMM
BEISTER, Richard J., WT3
BELCHER, James R., S1 RM*
BELL, Maurice Glenn, S1*
BENNETT, Dean R., HA1
BENNETT, Ernest F., B3
BENNETT, Toney Wade, ST3
BENNING, Harry., S1
BENTON, Clarence U., CFCP*
BERNACIL, Concepcion P. FC3*
BERRY, Joseph, Jr., STM1
BERRY, William Henry, ST3
BEUKEMA, Kenneth Jay, S2
BEUSCHLEIN, Joseph C., S2
BIDDISON, Charles L., S1
BILLINGS, Robert B., ENS
BILLINGSLEY, Robert F., GM3
BILZ, Robert Eugene, S2
BISHOP, Arthur, Jr., S2
BITONTI, Louis P., S1*
BLACKWELL, Fermon M., SSML3
BLANTHORN, Bryan, S1*
BLUM, Donald J., ENS*
BOEGE, Raynard R., S2
BOGAN, Jack R., RM1
BOLLINGER, Richard H.,
S1
BOOTH, Sherman C., S1 GM*
BORTON, Herbert E., SCB2
BOSS, Norbert George, S2
BOTT, Wilbur Melvin, S2
BOWLES, Eldridge W., S1
BOWMAN, Charles E., CTC
BOYD, Troy Howard, GM3
BRADLEY, William H., S2
BRAKE, John Jr., S2
BRANDT, Russell Lee, F2*
BRAUN, Neal F., S2
BRAY, Harold J., Jr., S2*
BRICE, R. V., S2
BRIDGE, Wayne Aron, S2
BRIGHT, Chester Lee, S2
BRILEY, Harold V., MAM3
BROOKS, Ulysess Ray, CWTA
BROPHY, Thomas D’Arcy Jr., ENS
BROWN, Edward A., WT3
BROWN, Edward J., S1*
BRUCE, Russell W., S2
BRULE, Maurice J., S2
BRUNDIGE, Robert H., S1 GM*
BRUNEAU, Charles A., GM3
BUCKETT, Victor R., Y2*
BUDISH, David, S2
BULLARD, John K., S1*
BUNAI, Robert P., SM1*
BUNN, Horace G., S2
BURDORF, Wilbert J., COX*
BURKHARTSMEIER, Anton T., S1
BURKHOLTZ, Frank, Jr., EM3
BURLESON, Martin L., S1
BURRS, John W., S1
BURT, William George A., QM3
BURTON, Curtis H., S1*
BUSHONG, John R., GM3
CADWALLADER, John J., RT3
CAIN, Alfred Brown, RT3
CAIRO, William G., BUG1
CALL, James Edward, RM3
CAMERON, John Watson, GM2
CAMP, Garrison, STM2
CAMPANA, Paul, RDM3
CAMPBELL, Hamer E., Jr., GM3*
CAMPBELL, Louis Dean, AOM3*
CAMPBELL, Wayland D., SF3
CANDALINO, Paul L., LT (jg)
CANTRELL, Billy G., F2
CARNELL, Lois Wayne, S2
CARPENTER, Willard A., SM3
CARR, Harry Leroy, S2
CARROLL, Gregory K., S1 FCO
CARROLL, Rachel W., COX
CARSON, Clifford, F1 WT
CARSTENSEN, Richard, S2
CARTER, Grover C., S1*
CARTER, Lindsey L., S2*
CARTER, Lloyd George, COX*
CARVER, Grover C., S1*
CASSIDY, John Curran, S1*
CASTALDO, Patrick P., GM2
CASTIAUX, Ray V., S2
CASTO, William H., S1
CAVIL, Robert Ralph, MM2
CAVITT, Clinton C., WT3
CELAYA, Adolfo Valdo, F2*
CENTAZZO, Frank J., SM3*
CHAMNESS, John Desel, S2*
CHANDLER, Lloyd N., S2
CHART, Joseph, EM3
CHRISTIAN, Lewis E. Jr., WO
CLARK, Eugene, CK3
CLARK, Orsen N., S2*
CLEMENTS, Harold P., S2
CLINTON, George W., S1*
CLINTON, Leland J., LT (jg)
COBB, William Lester, MOMM3
COLE, Walter Henry, CRMA
COLEMAN, Cedric F., LCDR
COLEMAN, Robert E., F2*
COLLIER, Charles R., RM2*
COLLINS, James, STM1
COLVIN, Frankie Lee, SSMT2
CONDON, Barna T., RDM1
CONNELLY, David F., ENS
CONRAD, James P., EM3
CONSER, Donald L., SC2
CONSIGLIO, Joseph W., FC2
CONWAY, Thomas M., Rev., LT
COOK, Floyd E., SF3
COOPER, Dale, Jr., F2
COPELAND, Willard J., S2
COSTNER, Homer J., COX*
COUNTRYMAN, Robert E., S2
COWEN, Donald R., FC3*
COX, Alford E., GM3
COX, Loel Dene, S2*
CRABB, Donald C., RM2
CRANE, Granville S., Jr., MM2*
CREWS, Hugh C., LT (jg)
CRITES, Orval D., WT1
CROUCH, Edwin M., CAPT.
(Passenger)
CRUM, Charles J., S2
CRUZ, Jose S., CCKA
CURTIS, Erwin E., CTCP
DAGENBART, Charles R., Jr.,
PHM2
DALE, Elwood Richard, F1
DANIEL, Harold W., CBMA*
DANIELLO, Anthony G., S1 SM
DAVIS, James Clark, RM3
DAVIS, Kenneth G., F1 EM
DAVIS, Stanley G., LT (jg)
DAVIS, Thomas Edward, SM2
DAY, Richard R., Jr., S2
DEAN, John Thomas, Jr., S2
DEBERNARDI, Louie, BM1*
DEFOOR, Walton, RDM3
DeMARS, Edgar Joseph, CBMA
DeMENT, Dayle P., S1
DENNEY, Lloyd, Jr., S2
DEWING, Ralph Otto, FC3*
DIMOND, John Nelson, S2
DIZELSKE, William B., MM2*
DOLLINS, Paul, RM2
DONALD, Lyle Herbert, EM1
DONEY, William Junior, F2
DONNER, Clarence W., RT2*
DORMAN, William B., S1
DORNETTO, Frank Paul, WT 1
DOSS, James Monroe, S2
DOUCETTE, Roland O., S2
DOUGLAS, Gene Dale, F2*
DOVE, Bessil Raymond, SKD2
DOWDY, Lowell S., CWO
DRANE, James Anthony, GM3
DRAYTON, William H., EM2*
DRISCOLL, David L., LT (jg)
DRONET, Joseph E.J., S2*
DRUMMOND, James J., F2
DRURY, Richard E., S2
DRYDEN, William H., MM1*
DUFRAINE, Delbert E., S1
DUNBAR, Jess Lee, F2
DURAND, Ralph J., Jr., S2
DYCUS, Donald, S2
EAKINS, Morris B., F2 WT
EAMES, Paul H., Jr., ENS
EASTMAN, Chester S., S2
ECK, Harold Adam, S2*
EDDINGER, John W, S1
EDDY, Richard Leroy, RM3
EDWARDS, Alwyn C., F2
EDWARDS, Roland J., BM1
EGOLF, Harold Wesley, S2 RDM
ELLIOTT, Harry W., S2
ELLIOTT, Kenneth A., S1
EMERY, William F., S1 QM
EMSLEY, William J., S1
ENGELSMAN, Ralph, S2
EPPERSON, Ewell, S1
EPPERSON, George L., S1
ERICKSON, Theodore M., S2*
ERNST, Robert Carl, F2
ERWIN, Louis H., COX*
ETHIER, Eugene Edwin, EM3*
EUBANKS, James H., S1
EVANS, Arthur Jerome, PHM2
EVANS, Claudus, GM3*
EVERETT, Charles N., EM2
EVERS, Lawrence Lee, CMMA
EYET, Donald Archie, S1
FANTASIA, Frank A., F2 WT
FARBER, Sheldon Lee, S2 RDM
FARLEY, James W, S1
FARMER, Archie C., COX*
FARRIS, Eugene F., S1 RM*
FASTHORSE, Vincent, S2
FEAKES, Fred A., AOM1*
FEDORSKI, Nicholas W., S1*
FEENEY, Paul Ross, S2 RM
FELTS, Donald J., BM1*
FERGUSON, Albert E., CMMA*
FERGUSON, Russel M., RT3
FIGGINS, Harley Dean, WT2
FIRESTONE, Kenneth F., FC2
FIRMIN, John Alden H., S2
FLATEN, Harold James, WT2*
FLEISCHAUER, Donald W., S1 Y
FLESHMAN, Vern L., S2
FLYNN, James M., Jr., S1 FCO
FLYNN, Joseph A., CDR
FOELL, Cecil D., ENS
FORTIN, Verlin L., WT3*
FOSTER, Verne E., F2*
FOX, William H., Jr., F2*
FRANCOIS, Norbert E., F1 MM*
FRANK, Rudolph A., S2
FRANKLIN, Jack R., RDM3
FREEZE, Howard B., LT (jg)
FRENCH, Douglas O., FC3
FRENCH, Jimmy Junior, QM3
FRITZ, Leonard A., MM3
FRONTINO, Vincent F., MOMM
FRORATH, Donald H., S2
FUCHS, Herma
n F., CWO
FULLER, Arnold A., F2
FULTON, William C, CRMA
FUNKHOUSER, Robert M., ART2*
GABRILLO, Juan, S2*
GAITHER, Forest M., FC2
GALANTE, Angelo, S2*
GALBRAITH, Norman S., MM2
GARDNER, Roscoe W., F2*
GARDNER, Russel T., F2
GARNER, Glenn R., MM2
GAUSE, Robert P., QM1*
GAUSE, Rubin C., Jr., ENS
GEMZA, Rudolph A., FCO3*
GEORGE, Gabriel V., MM3*
GERNGROSS, Frederick J., Jr., ENS
GETTLEMAN, Robert A., S2
RDM*
GIBSON, Buck Warren, GMS*
GIBSON, Curtis W., S2
GIBSON, Ganola F., MM3
GILBERT, Warner, Jr., S1
GILCREASE, James, S2*
GILL, Paul Edward, WT2
GILMORE, Wilbur A., S2
GISMONDI, Michael V., S1
GLADD, Millard, Jr., MM2*
GLAUB, Francis A., GM2
GLENN, Jay R., AMM3*
GLOVKA, Erwin Samuel, S2
GODFREY, Marlo Roy, RM3
GOECKEL, Ernest S., LT (jg)
GOFF, Thomas Guy, SF3*
GOLDEN, Curry, STM1
GOLDEN, James I., S1
GONZALES, Ray Adam, S2
GOOCH, William Leroy, F2*
GOOD, Robert Kenneth, MM3
GOODWIN, Oliver A., CRTA
GORE, Leonard F., S2
GORECKI, Joseph W., SK3
GOTTMANN, Paul James, S2
GOVE, Carroll L., S2
GRAY, Willis Leroy, S1*
GREATHOUSE, Bud R., S1
GREEN, Robert Urban, S2
GREEN, Tolbert, Jr., S1*
GREENE, Samuel G., S1
GREENLEE, Charles I., S2*
GREER, Bob Eugene, S2
GREGORY, Garland G., F1
GRIEF, Matthias D., WT3
GRIES, Richard C., F2
GRIEST, Frank David, GM3
GRIFFIN, Jackie Dale, S1
GRIFFITH, Robert Lee, S1*
GRIFFITHS, Leonard S., S2
GRIGGS, Donald Ray F1
GRIMES, David Elmer, S2
GRIMES, James F., S2
GROCE, Floyd Vernon, RDM2
GROCH, John Thomas, MM3
GUENTHER, Morgan E., EM3
GUERRERO, John Gomez, S1
GUILLOT, Murphy U., F1 EM
GUYE, Ralph Lee, Jr., QM3
GUYON, Harold Lewis, F1 WT
HABERMAN, Bernard, S2
HADUCH, John Martin, S1
HALE, Robert B., LT
HALE, William F., S2
HALL, Pressie, F1
HALLORAN, Edward G., MM3
HAM, Saul Anthony, S1
HAMBO, William P., PHM3
HAMMEN, Robert, PHOM3
HAMRICK, James J., S2
HANCOCK, William A., GM3
HANKINSON, Clarence W., P2
HANSEN, Henry, S2