USSindianapolis,fresh look/neighbor's co-worker IN HARMS WAY

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2010/02/william_thurkettle_82_survivor.html

http://ussindianapolis.activeboard.com/index.spark?aBID=113085&p=3&topicID=34187528

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_B._McVay_III[/quote]

The ship's captain, the late Charles Butler McVay III, survived and was court-martialed and convicted of "hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag" despite overwhelming evidence that the Navy itself had placed the ship in harm's way, despite testimony from the Japanese submarine commander that zigzagging would have made no difference, and despite that fact that, although over 350 navy ships were lost in combat in WWII, McVay was the only captain to be court-martialed. Materials declassified years later add to the evidence that McVay was a scapegoat for the mistakes of others.

Although the first organized effort by survivors to clear Captain McVay's name did not commence until 1960 when the Survivors Organization was formally established, it was never able to gain sufficient public attention until 1996 when an eleven-year-old boy, Hunter Scott, for Pensacola, Florida, saw the movie "Jaws" and was moved by the very accurate soliloquy of one of the actors who explained his hatred of the sharks by telling his story of surviving the attack upon the Indianapolis.

When told the actor was describing an event which was true, young Hunter began researching the story for what became an award-winning school history project but then, still fascinated, pursued it further, obtaining addresses of all survivors to whom he sent a questionnaire. One of the questions was whether they felt Captain McVay's court-martial was justified and his conviction fair.

As he subsequently testified in a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on September 15, 1999, "all of the responses I got back were unanimous, and most were strongly worded in outrage and anger" over the Navy's treatment of Captain McVay.

These responses set Hunter Scott on a crusade to clear Captain McVay's name. Because of his youth, he attracted media attention which, in turn, attracted the attention of the Survivors Organization and that of his member of Congress, Representative Joe Scarborough. This led to invitations, first to the 1996 survivors' reunion in Indianapolis, then to join a group of survivors in Hawaii in 1997 for a short trip on the nuclear submarine the USS Indianapolis.

It also led to a 1997 promise from Representative Scarborough that he would introduce legislation in 1998, and plans were made for Hunter and a group of survivors to travel to Washington to support Scarborough's Bill.

http://ussindianapolis.org/resolution.htm