The mystery of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis revealed in documentary
MALANSHOF – On the ship's journey back, a Japanese submarine torpedoed the vessel and it sank to more than 5 400m below the surface.
As the world marvels over the discovery of the USS Indianapolis ship that went missing 72 years ago, a documentary about the ship and its personnel will be screened on 26 August in Randburg.
Rory Latimer and Anne Lynch, the organiser’s of the screening, said the story of this missing ship is of ‘significant historical interest to the public’.
The ship had just completed a secret mission delivering components of the atomic bomb used in Hiroshima that was dropped towards the end of the Second World War. On the ship’s journey back, a Japanese submarine torpedoed the vessel and it sank to more than 5 400m below the surface. Sailors and marines aboard the ship survived the sinking only to succumb to dehydration, drowning and shark attacks. According to the US navy, of the 1 196 navy personnel, only 316 survived, of which 22 are alive today.
The documentary, which was produced by the survivors with their friends and family, tells the story of the survivors’ five-day nightmare in the Pacific ocean. It includes first-hand accounts of how the sailors had to deal with shark infested waters, the trauma of injured shipmates and the hopeless feeling that they had been abandoned in the vast ocean. The story of these 80–90 year old survivors is told in such a way that one can still feel the emotions they went through.
The screening comes at a time when the discovery of the ship is trending worldwide on social media, international news agencies and Google searches. The screening of the documentary will take place at Footprints Preparatory Special Needs School.
Booking of tickets is essential and can be made by contacting the school’s offices.
Details: Footprints Preparatory Special Needs School 011 791 0062/5412
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