USS Indianapolis

Have you ever heard the story about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during WWII? At my Kiwanis meeting today I sat across the table from William Mulvey, or "Mulvey" as he prefers to be called talk about his experience as one of the 317 survivors. Mulvey is an 86-year old WWII veteran of the US Navy who was onboard the Indianapolis that day on July 30, 1945 when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sank. According to Mulvey, the Indianapolis sank in less than 5 minutes. Mulvey ended up in the water with 38 other sailors believing that they were the only survivors out of about 1,200 men. Over the course of the next 4 days Mulvey watched and listened as 33 of those sailors drowned. 317 men were found literally by accident and rescued on August 4; 882 men either died as a result of their injuries, drowned, or were eaten by sharks while waiting to be rescued.

Mulvey lives in the Grand Rapids area.