RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
INDIANAPOLIS: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year-Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic is one of the most engrossing and riveting nonfiction books I have read. I enjoy reading nonfiction books set during WWII because I truly do believe they were written about an extraordinary generation. This book not only vividly describes the history of the Indianapolis’ war service, sinking and the five days of terror in the sea waiting for rescue, but continues with the survivors’ fight to clear their Captain’s record.
The Indianapolis was a historic ship that had seen major battles in the Pacific, survived to be repaired after a kamikaze attack, delivered the first atomic bomb to the Air Force to be dropped on Hiroshima and then was sunk by a Japanese submarine just after midnight on July 30, 1945. The night began with 1,195 men going about their duties or off-duty past-times. It is estimated that approximately 300 men went down with the ship with the remainder entering the sea. When the survivors were accidentally spotted from the air and rescued, only 316 men lived. The description of burns, dehydration, delirium, drowning and sharks had me in tears several times.
This was an extremely well documented and researched book. From the survivor’s firsthand accounts, naval documents, and previous historical books on this subject. The two authors interweave two timelines, one beginning in 1945 that takes you back to the ship and one that begins in the 1990’s that centers on the fight for justice for Captain McVay. I could not put this book down and I could vividly mentally picture every paragraph past and present.
I HIGHLY recommend this book!
(After reading this book, I watched the documentary USS Indianapolis: The Legacy on Amazon Prime. It was made by the authors of this book and was told in the first person by the survivor’s. It brought faces to the names I read about in the book. Extremely emotional.)
