INDIANAPOLIS — The US Navy has officially changed the status of the 13 lost USS Indianapolis Sailors from "unaccounted for" to "buried at sea".
The Naval History and Heritage Command, Navy Casualty Office, the USS Indianapolis Survivors Association, the USS Indianapolis Legacy Organization, and the Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable Foundation came together in conducting research that led to the change in status.
Rick Stone, who served at NHHC and started the USS Indianapolis Burial at Sea Project said, "Our foundation will never forget the heroes of the USS Indianapolis and are proud of our role in helping thirteen families learn that the Navy went to great lengths to honor them soon after their deaths.”
This change brings closure to the families of the sailors, Stone said. The nephew of USS Indianapolis sailor Floyd Ralph Wolfe, William Baxter said, "It’s nice to finally have some closure to what actually happened to [him]. Thank you all for going above and beyond for me and my family. I wasn’t expecting all of this, but thank you.”
The USS Indianapolis sank on July 20, 1945, after being hit by two Japanese torpedoes. Out of the 1,195 sailors, approximately 300 went down with the ship and 900 were set adrift. Only 316 sailors survived.
Sailors whose status changed:
- 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
