USS Indianapolis Memorial

It was a memorial 30 years in the making, commemorating a tragedy 50 years ago. The USS Indianapolis Memorial (CA-35) opened on August 2, 1995, along the east bank of a canal in downtown Indianapolis, the namesake for the ship. The event marked the 50th anniversary of the heavy cruiser's tragic sinking by a Japanese submarine at the end of World War II. The memorial pays tribute to the ship which carried parts of the atomic bomb to the island of Tinian. It also honors the 1,197 men who served as crew aboard the vessel, three-quarters of whom died from sinking in shark-infested waters. Today, only eight survivors remain of the 317 men who survived the tragedy. The memorial is at a crossroads, entering a new era that soon will be without the representation of living memory. Even as the remaining survivors pass, there are favorable signs the memorial will continue keeping alive the story of the USS Indianapolis and the memory of those who served on her in the last days of World War II.

The USS Indianapolis Memorial is the brainchild of the ship's survivors. In 1960, some gathered 15 years after the war's end for their first reunion. A suggestion arose to create a memorial to honor and remember their lost shipmates during their gathering. The idea resonated and then simmered. The subject of a memorial resurfaced at the 1965 reunion. This time the discussion generated momentum. An exploratory committee began to look further into the possibility of building a memorial. Initially, the biggest hurdle was finding a suitable piece of property in Indianapolis for the monument. Good news finally came in 1990 when the Mayor of Indianapolis, William H. Hudnut III, announced his intent to donate to the survivor's organization prime property along the water canal that ran through downtown Indianapolis. It was a perfect location for their memorial. And it was the ideal time to capitalize on the growing publicity for the upcoming 50th anniversary of the war's end.

From the beginning, challenges existed in raising money for the memorial. The first was its growing cost. The projected estimate was initially $500,000. By the time the memorial was completed in 1995 - 3 years later than projected - the total expenses had risen to 1 million dollars. The second challenge, an ignorant public, contributed to the first. "Part of the reason we have been unable to raise the money is that a lot of folks don't remember, or never heard the story of the Indianapolis," said Patrick Finneran, executive director of the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) Survivors Memorial Organization, Inc. "We have had to educate folks about the ship, her crew, her final voyage. When people hear her story, a lot of average citizens want to contribute. But we have to keep telling her story."

It might seem strange that the city of Indianapolis had forgotten or never heard of the ship that shared the city's name. The sinking of the Indianapolis occurred 45 years earlier, at the very end of the war. The Navy had initially delayed reporting on the loss of the Indianapolis until after the exuberant announcement of Japan's surrender. The ship's tragedy – representing the Navy's worst sea disaster and costing almost 900 lives - was strategically 'lost' between the euphoria of the war's end and the Navy's efforts to blame the sinking on the commanding officer of the ship, Captain Charles Butler McVay. He later faced court-martial as the scapegoat for the tragedy. In the relentless drive to get on with life after the war, most people forgot the USS Indianapolis's role in ending the Pacific War. The Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress, received the primary attention for dropping the atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Few recalled that the Indianapolis delivered the bomb as top-secret cargo to Tinian Island just days before her sinking.

The dedication for the USS Indianapolis Memorial on July 30, 1995, drew approximately 3,500 people, including 107 survivors, who came to witness the unveiling. Before the spectators were black and gray granite pieces from California used to fashion the 21-ton structure in the general shape of a Navy ship. The ship's bow pointed westward toward the Pacific Ocean to honor the ships' crew who died in the middle of the Philippine Sea. Indiana limestone acted as the base of the structure of the vessel. Adorning the black granite face of the memorial was a detailed silhouette of the USS Indianapolis. Listed on the memorial's reverse side were the names of the entire 1,197 member crew aboard the ship at the time of her sinking. Each engraved name had 1-inch letters. The survivors noted by the placement of a star beside their names.

The designer, architect Joseph Fischer, wrapped the text of the USS Indianapolis story around the 28 feet long base of the memorial. He used the north side of the base to present general information on the ship: construction details, physical dimensions, engine type, armament description, and her honorable resume of service in the Navy from 1932-45. The text written on the base's south side, beneath the crew member's names, summarized the tragic events of her sinking on July 30, 1945. Also explained was the long ordeal for the survivors and their attempts to survive in the water. He cut into the base of the memorial ten stars to represent the ten battle stars the Indianapolis received for her war service. Directly behind the granite ship, Fischer placed a high, curved wall to represent the ship's bridge serving as an overlook for the memorial.

One feature of the memorial was not visible to the crowd of on-lookers. Buried beneath it was a piece of the superstructure of the USS Arizona. As the last Navy ship sunk before the war's end, the USS Indianapolis became forever linked to the first sunken ship of the conflict during the attack at Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona. The two ships became timeline bookends for the American experience in the Second World War. Both ships also became underwater tombs for some of their crew. In the case of the Arizona, 1,102 men became entrapped in the sunken ship. For the Indianapolis, approximately 300 men sank with their ship, while another 580 died on the open water by dehydration, salt-poisoning, and shark attacks.

While the memorial does an impressive job in remembering the crew and summarizing the ship's distinguished career, it is silent on some other essential details that paint a broader foreground to the evolving story of the war's end. In December of 1990, Miles McCoy, President of the USS Indianapolis Survivors' Association, was at Pearl Harbor attending the commemoration for the 49th Anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor. Former Japanese Submarine Commander Machitsura Hashimoto, who had sunk the Indianapolis 49 years earlier, was also in attendance. McCoy planned to confront the man indirectly responsible for the USS Indianapolis Memorial. He planned initially to tell Hashimoto that he and the surviving crew did not forgive the commander for sinking their ship. After a couple of days, however, McCoy changed his mind. When he met Hashimoto at the end of the commemoration, he said to him through an interpreter, "Sir, I am the representative of all those that were aboard the Indianapolis on that fateful night, and I feel that you were doing your duty just as we were, and I forgive you." Hashimoto responded, "I forgive you too." When translated, McCoy asked for what he was receiving forgiveness. Hashimoto explained, "The bomb you delivered to Tinian was dropped on my hometown, Hiroshima, and it killed my entire family." McCoy was dumbfounded and responded, "I never knew. I'm sorry." For McCoy, the brief dialogue with Hashimoto acknowledged mutual loss, regret, and reconciliation.

Although the forgiveness dialogue between McCoy and Hashimoto is not mentioned anywhere on the monument, the memorial's dedication likely helped some survivors experience a form of self-forgiveness. Retired Navy Captain James Hold, president of the USS Indianapolis Survivors Memorial Organization, explained at the 1992 site dedication, "Those men who lived have carried a terrible load of unworthy emotion. They felt guilty and ashamed - ashamed they lost their ship, and guilt because they lived and so many of their shipmates died. When the memorial is finished, they will, I believe, feel at last the ship and crew are worthy of remembering, and the building of the memorial will take a larger load off their conscience." Survivor Jimmy O'Donnell put it more simply, "Building the monument… was also an opportunity for me to come to grips with that tragic event that happened so long ago."

For some survivors, the memorial's dedication facilitated an expression of forgiveness toward the Navy, who failed to notice and quickly rescue the ship's crew 50 years earlier. The same Navy that denied for so long any exoneration for Captain McVay, who ended up committing suicide in 1968. Survivor Clarence Hershberger of Elkhart, Indiana, shared, "For 45 years, I had kind of a negative attitude about the whole thing because of the way the Navy treated it. Finally, when I saw the memorial taking shape, and something positive coming out of this tragedy, I changed my attitude a bit."

If prime location indicates a memorial's survival, the USS Indianapolis memorials look quite secure. Hundreds of people pass by it every day on foot while walking along the popular canal. And, since 2018, many more children have been in the proximity of the memorial. The Indianapolis Colts Foundation built a large playground on a grassy area north and east of the monument. The playground has brought many young feet closer to the memorial, ensuring a chance that curious minds might stop and take a peek. The story of the USS Indianapolis remains accessible to all who pass by. Hopefully, people will take time to look and learn from the impressive memorial in front of them. And while they will not understand the "whole story" from viewing it, they will know enough about the contribution and tragedy of a ship and her crew to prompt them perhaps to look deeper into the broader narrative of the war's end.

(edited by Laura Bailey)

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