Left for Dead

“These men and their testimony helped me to become even more committed to helping restore the reputation of their captain and honor their own heroism.”

Perseverance is a pivotal theme in Nelson’s work. Hunter is inspired by the stories of determination and perseverance from the survivors, which leads him to bring these qualities to his fight on their behalf: He wants to “honor their own heroism” with heroism of his own (Preface: xv).

“After I interviewed Mr. Bell, my project became a mission.”

Hunter’s first interview with a survivor, Maurice Glenn Bell, signifies the turning point for Hunter, transforming him from a student completing a school project into a campaigner advocating for justice. This quote also speaks to Hunter’s compassion and determination.

“I made the calls and the men were very supportive, but I could not shake the feeling that this could not end now.”

Hunter is devastated to be disqualified from the state history fair due to his use of notebooks containing survivors’ testimonies. Supported by the survivors, Hunter perseveres despite this setback and comes up with a new plan to publicize his project: via Congressman Scarborough’s Pensacola office. His determination to continue in spite of this disappointment alludes to the pivotal theme of perseverance in the face of adversity.

“As more information came in, I began to build an even stronger case that the navy had used Captain McVay as a scapegoat to cover its mistakes.”

Hunter’s publicity allows him to gather more evidence to support his case that McVay’s court-martial was a sham intended to scapegoat him for mistakes of the navy. Key evidence which arrives from people around the globe writing to Hunter include the testimonies that SOS distress signals were in fact received by the navy, who later covered this fact up.

“Through my fight to exonerate the captain of the USS Indianapolis, I am trying to pay back at least a little bit of honor to some of the people who provided my freedom.”

Hunter’s quest for justice is informed by his value system. He believes that those who fought to allow him the freedom which he enjoys deserve to be recognized and celebrated. For this reason, McVay’s disgrace is particularly egregious to Hunter.

“The last light he saw was his ship on fire, flames, smoke, mixed with the horrible sounds of men screaming.”

Nelson gathered extensive eye-witness accounts from survivors of the sinking in order to convey some of the horror of the scene in the aftermath of the USS Indianapolis’s sinking. An important theme in his work is the horrors of war.

“A second man fell into the gun turret, and Smith could hear his bones break.”

Smith further expounds on the horror of the scene which unfolded as the Indianapolis sank. These memories haunted survivors for the rest of their lives.

“The terror of it hits him. To his left he watches as a body is suddenly pulled under. He sees a tail. The water is full of sharks”

To add to the horror of the sailors, alone in the dark on the open ocean, they find that they are in shark-infested waters. This is the part of the tragedy which is referred to in the cult classic film Jaws, which first brought the story of the Indianapolis to Hunter’s attention.

“Finally a plane came down … The pilot was a man named Wilbur Gwinn, and he spotted us. They say he was fixing his antenna and that’s what made him look out and see us.”

Maurice Bell, in his conversation with Hunter Scott, explains how the survivors of the Indianapolis were finally spotted. Despite numerous overseeing naval groups having been provided with the ship’s routing information, the alarm was not sounded when the Indianapolis did not reach Leyte.

“The Captain’s name should be cleared, not just for the Captain’s sake but for the sake of men like Maurice Bell.”

Hunter first learns of Captain McVay’s condemnation at the court-martial through Maurice Bell. Hunter is moved by Bell’s anger and disappointment and realizes that the miscarriage of justice has deeply affected not only McVay, but the other survivors as well.

“Zigzag at discretion of Commanding Officer.”

This phrase in Captain McVay’s routing instructions indicated that he could choose to zigzag along the Peddie route (rather than traveling straight) if he felt that conditions necessitated it, such as in the case of clear visibility and high submarine threat. McVay was led to believe that the risk of submarine attack was relatively low.

“... the ship … traveled in what was called ‘Condition Yoke Modified,’ which meant that the air ducts and most of the watertight daws on the second deck were left open to cool things off below. Many of the other doors and hatches below decks were open as well.”

The speed of the sinking of the Indianapolis was increased due to most of the doors and hatches in the ship being open. The ship took on water more quickly because of this. The increased rate of sinking undoubtedly resulted in further loss of life than if the speed of sinking had been tempered by sealed watertight doors and latches.

“By July of 1945, Hashimoto had any number of reasons to feel dismay. His country was under daily bombardment, the war effort looking hopeless.”

Nelson conveys Hashimoto’s desperation at the state of Japan, and over his own personal failures thus far in the war effort. These factors motivate Hashimoto to hit and sink the approaching cruiser: the USS Indianapolis.

“They keyed the message … tapping out in Morse code: USS INDIANAPOLIS … TORPEDOED TWICE … LATITUDE TWELVE DEGREES NORTH, LONGITUDE ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE DEGREES EAST … NEED IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE.”

Crewmembers desperately sent SOS distress signals via morse code as the Indianapolis rapidly sank. Receivers in the radio rooms were out, meaning that the crewmembers were unable to monitor the signals to know if their message was being conveyed. Many years later, Hunter helped to prove that these messages were successfully sent, but tragically were not responded to.

“Kuryla couldn’t believe some of the guys who were hanging on, when other guys who looked like they were in better shape seemed to quit.”

Kuryla notices the determination of some of the men who seem to be able to manage to stay alive in spite of odds stacked against them. Perseverance is one of Nelson’s prominent themes.

“Men who drank salt water died extremely uncomfortable deaths.”

The result of drinking salt water, which many desperate men resorted to, is hypernatremia: an excess of salt in the body. The body is forced to extract water from cells to try to rid itself of toxins, causing severe cramps and convulsions. The delay in the navy’s response is directly responsible for the deaths of these men.

“[C]hief of naval operations Admiral Ernest J. King had issued a two-page directive instructing that the special intelligence developed from ULTRA be handled and distributed only by or to flag officers.”

This directive meant that Captain McVay was not of sufficient rank to be provided with intelligence developed from ULTRA. This meant that he was not made aware of the known whereabouts of the i-58 submarine, which would sink the Indianapolis. This is one of the directives which Hunter critiqued in the navy’s operations, as it left McVay in the dark about the risk to his ship. 

“He described the visibility on the night of the sinking as poor and tried to explain why he’d said it was good later on in his report to Forrestal.”

McVay defended himself at his court-martial, justifying his decision not to zigzag based on poor visibility. His words about visibility being good later, after the ship had sunk and the men were in the water, were misconstrued to make it sound like McVay was describing conditions before the attack.

“McVay was, however, convicted of hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag.”

McVay was found guilty of hazarding his ship, one of the two charges brought against him at the court-martial. In spite of Captain Hashimoto’s observation that zigzagging would have made little difference in his ability to sink the ship, and in spite of McVay and his crew’s assertion that the night was dark before the attack, McVay was blamed for his poor decision making.

“In his dreams, the shark was pulling him down again.”

Cozell Smith, who managed to fight off a shark which was trying to pull him under while he was in the water, was plagued with terrifying nightmares. These nightmares speak to the extent of his ongoing terror and trauma in the aftermath of the tragedy.

“Men cleansed themselves, atoned, apologized, said their piece and bawled like babies.”

Giles McCoy set up the first reunion for 220 of the 317 men who he managed to track down. The reunion took place in 1960. For many, it was extremely cathartic, and allowed them to express their feelings and thoughts to crewmates fifteen years after the tragedy.

“Perhaps hardest of all for McVay to bear were the cards and letters he received from the families of the sailors who died when the Indianapolis sank, hate mail blaming him and asking him how he could live with himself.”

McVay’s disgrace potentially led him to take his own life in 1968. His guilt over his culpability, which Hunter later helped to disprove, was a likely factor in his decision to die.

“1. in light of the remission by the Secretary of the Navy of the sentence of the court-martial and the restoration of Captain McVay to active duty by the Chief of Naval Operations, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, that the American people should now recognize Captain McVay’s lack of culpability for the tragic loss of the USS Indianapolis and the lives of the men who died as a result of the sinking of the vessel.”

The first part of the resolution passed in the Senate and the House establishes McVay’s lack of culpability in the sinking of the Indianapolis and the resultant deaths of the men on board. This resolution was the culmination of years of hard work by Hunter and his team of supporters.