Only 14 men who survived the sinking on the U-S-S Indianapolis are still alive. Six of those survivors are expected in Indianapolis this week to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the sinking of their ship, and to honor their lost shipmates.
On July 30th, 1945, the Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sunk in 12 minutes. The Indianapolis had just completed a secret mission, delivering the first atomic bomb to the U-S air base at Tinian where it would later be dropped on Hiroshima.
Sailors and Marines who survived the torpedo blasts, abandoned ship and floated for almost five days in shark-infested waters before they were spotted by a plane. Of the total crew of 11-hundred-95 men, only 316 survived.
