Navy changes status of 13 USS Indianapolis sailors who died in World War II
MILLINGTON, Tenn. (WISH) — The Navy announced Thursday that the status of 13 sailors who were lost when the USS Indianapolis was sunk in 1945 has went from “unaccounted for” to “buried at sea.”
The USS Indianapolis sank on July 30, 1945, after being hit by two Japanese torpedoes. Her final top-secret mission was to deliver parts of the first atomic bomb.
This change in status was the result of research from the Naval History and Heritage Command, Navy Casualty Office, the USS Indianapolis Survivors Association, USS Indianapolis Legacy Organization, and the Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable Foundation.
This information brings closure to families of the sailors who lost their lives to help end World War II.
“Nothing is more important to me than giving families that knowledge when the unthinkable happens,” says Capt. Robert McMahon, director of the Navy Casualty Office.
He says he is taking it to heart that it’s his obligation and solemn duty to bring this type of closure to families, no matter how long it’s been.
Approximately 300 of 1,195 sailors went down with their ship.
We remember the names of these sailors:
- Seaman 1st Class George Stanley Abbott – Bedford, Kentucky
- Seaman 2nd Class Eugene Clifford Batson – Kansas City, Kansas
- Gunner’s Mate 1st Class William Alexander Haynes – Homedale, Idaho
- Seaman 2nd Class Albert Raymond Kelly – Cleveland, Ohio
- Seaman 1st Class Albert Davis Lundgren – Washington, D.C.
- Fireman 1st Class Ollie McHone – Mars Hill, Arkansas
- Seaman 2nd Class George David Payne – Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Storekeeper 3rd Class Alvin Wilder Rahn – Hamlet, North Carolina
- Ship’s Cook 3rd Class Jose Antonio Saenz – Edinburg, Texas
- Coxswain Charles Byrd Sparks – Birmingham, Alabama
- Radioman 2nd Class Joseph Mason Strain – Creston, Iowa
- SSML3 Angelo Anthony Sudano – Niles, Ohio
- Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Floyd Ralph Wolfe – Turner, Oregon