[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 45 (Wednesday, April 22, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H2218-H2219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNIZING THE SACRIFICE OF THE CREW OF THE U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, today several of my colleagues and I join 
12-year-old Hunter Scott in his outstanding efforts to correct an 
injustice dealt to the skipper and crew of a World War II battle 
cruiser. The U.S.S. Indianapolis was torpedoed and sunk just before the 
end of the war, in the U.S. Navy's worst disaster at sea.
  Hunter Scott, a 7th grader at Ransom Middle School of Cantonment, 
Florida, researched the story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis as a school 
history project. This week, today, he came to Washington to ask 
Congress to exonerate Charles McVay, the ship's captain, who was court-
martialed for the loss of the ship.
  Hunter has been able to do what adults have been unable to do for 53 
years. He has drawn attention to the story of the Indianapolis, and now 
we are preparing to give the crew and captain of the ship the 
recognition that they so rightfully deserve.
  The U.S.S. Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine in 1945 
after delivering the components of the atom bomb to Tinian Island in 
the Pacific. Only 316 of the 1,916 soldiers who served on the U.S.S. 
Indianapolis survived to be rescued.
  The crew was adrift at sea without lifeboats, food, or water for 4\1/
2\ days. More than 500 were eaten by sharks or succumbed to injuries or 
the elements. During this time, the failure of the ship to arrive in 
port at the Philippines went totally unnoticed. The ship's Captain, 
Charles B. McVay III, was convicted in a 1946 court-martial. He was the 
first U.S. naval officer ever to be tried and convicted following the 
loss of his ship in combat. McVay committed suicide in 1968.
  Captain McVay's conviction was based on the fact that he failed to 
zigzag the ship, but his superiors never gave him information that a 
Japanese submarine was patrolling the area. In addition, the Japanese 
captain of the submarine said before the trial that he would have sunk 
the ship even if it had been zigzagging.
  Evidence suggests that the Navy made McVay a scapegoat for the 
embarrassing loss of the ship and tragic death of most of the crew. 
Because McVay's court-martial severely tarnished the ship's reputation, 
the crew of the Indianapolis has gone without recognition for 53 years.
  Today, my colleague and I introduced legislation to reverse this 
injustice to Captain McVay and the crew of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. The 
enactment of the bill would exonerate Captain McVay of the 
responsibility for sinking the U.S.S. Indianapolis. It would express 
the sense of Congress that the court-martial conviction of McVay was a 
grave injustice. It urges the President to grant a posthumous pardon to 
Captain McVay and expresses the sense of Congress that the President 
not only award a Presidential Unit Citation to the crew of the U.S.S. 
Indianapolis in recognition of their courage and fortitude but it 
waives any time limit applicable to such a situation.
  Twelve of the survivors of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis 
came to

[[Page H2219]]

Washington to join Hunter in his crusade. After the ship sank, they 
endured almost 5 days adrift in shark-infested waters, where two-thirds 
of their shipmates perished from shark attacks, hunger, thirst, and 
exposure.
  Let us, at long last, understand that justice delayed is justice 
denied and recognize in a very patriotic fashion the kind of sacrifices 
that were rendered at that particular time.

                              {time}  1915

  The Walt Disney Channel on Sunday has a very special and unique 
presentation about the U.S.S. Indianapolis.

                          ____________________