Heroes in the Shadows (eBook)

Foreword

by Commander Carlton G. Philpot, USN (Ret)

“When individuals die for their country, the blood of all is red, but when history is written, the ink of the historians is often invisible when it comes to Black participation, service, and sacrifices.”

CDR Carlton G. Philpot, US Navy (Ret.)

According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, there were 187,000 (5.5%) blacks serving in the Navy during WWII. However, this book, Heroes in the Shadows, is about the 28 (0.02% ) black sailors on USS Indianapolis (CA-35).

None of the books and documentaries I have read and seen about this tragedy specifically mentioned the black sailors on board. However, I have seen Mr. Mario Van Peebles’ 2016 movie USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage. Except for very few points, it is largely fiction. The major inaccuracy is that the movie shows black sailors surviving and being rescued. Factually, none of the black sailors on board the USS Indianapolis were among the 316 survivors rescued on August 2-3, 1945.

Heroes in the Shadows is the first book that focuses on and identifies the twenty-eight black sailors who were on board when USS Indianapolis was sunk in the Pacific by two Japanese torpedoes shortly after midnight on July 30, 1945. Unfortunately, all the black sailors died, and—according to the government—are officially considered “Dead, unrecoverable.” Informally, families and friends of the Indianapolis story refer to these men as “Lost-At-Sea.”

This is a must-read book, because, for the first time, the names and some of the faces of the twenty-eight black sailors whose existence and presence on USS Indianapolis have been in the ‘shadows’ for over 75 years will now be known and seen.

After serving 24.5 years as a Surface Warfare Navy officer with twelve years at sea on six different ships, my appreciation for the magnitude of the disaster and casualty count is deep. The incident and surrounding controversies of the USS Indianapolis disaster resulted in changes to specific reporting requirements for Navy ships at sea. Due to this ship’s sinking at an unknown location and time, policy changes requiring ships to periodically report their position were subsequently put into effect. As a ship’s navigator, I made such reports several times daily.

I share three firsthand experiences. When my father enlisted in the Navy in 1946, blacks were only allowed to serve in the Steward Branch. In other words, he did the work of a “Butler.” He often commented to me that he could only clean the officers’ staterooms, shine their shoes, and serve them food. One of two of my dad’s proudest days was when I was commissioned in May 1970. The other was when he had lunch with me in the Wardroom (Officer’s mess) on my last ship-USS Aylwin (FF-1081). This time, he was served instead of being the server. Ironically, USS Aylwin (DD-355) participated in the recovery efforts of USS Indianapolis.

Secondly, my mother’s youngest brother served in the Navy in the mid-1950s. By then he was allowed to serve as a Yeoman, an administrative clerk. Long before I joined the Navy in 1970, blacks were allowed to serve in a variety of jobs. Also, I received the Legion of Merit, for my work as the volunteer Chairman and Project Director of the $1.3 million Buffalo Soldier Monument. Ironically, this was awarded by the Army. The monument was dedicated on July 25, 1992. On that very hot day in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas an estimated crowd of 20,000 people heard the featured speaker, General Colin L. Powell, then Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, give a passionate speech about these once-forgotten black soldiers whose military contributions were also written with invisible ink.

My third personal experience happened in the early 1990s while working on the Buffalo Soldier Monument Project, I was at the same time assigned as an instructor at the Army’s Command and General Staff (CGSC). I invited the late Admiral Samuel L. Gravely to be one of the speakers for a Black History Program. Gravely became the first black Admiral in the U.S. Navy on June 02, 1971.

During that visit, I was honored just to be in his presence, and privileged to have an opportunity to talk with this historic military icon. Surprisingly, although our services were decades apart, many of our racial challenges were the same. I asked about his perspective on why the honorable and courageous services and sacrifices of Blacks were often omitted by writers of military history. He told me, “That is why the Lord put YOU in charge of this Army project. Maybe one day you will have the opportunity to do the same for a Navy project.” How prophetic.

That conversation with Admiral Gravely and recollections about my father’s and uncle’s experiences further fueled my interest to invest more than thirty years uncovering and searching across the oceans for the truth about the military service of Black individuals and units whose contributions and sacrifices were written with “invisible ink.” Along the way, I was blessed to successfully spearhead eight monuments that helped to shine the “truth’s” light on the heroic military service of black men and women that had been in the “shadows” of Army records.

Bringing black military service out of the “shadows” in the Army began with the $1.3 million Buffalo Soldier Monument project in 1989 and ended on November 30, 2018, with the dedication of the eighth Monument which commemorates a unique cadre of 855 black, Puerto Rican, and Mexican women of the WWII Women Army Corps unit the-6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. For 33 years of honored work, I was inducted into the Fort Leavenworth Hall of Fame on May 10, 2022.

This book about the twenty-eight unheralded WWII Black sailors is an easy read, and the flow of events from the ship’s sinking on July 30, 1945, through the rescue of the survivors on August 30th is most informative and intriguing. Depending on who reads this book, perceptions and reactions will vary. Family members may be elated and pleased that the service and sacrifices of their loved ones are finally recognized. Some family members may even be upset as they become familiar with the details surrounding the ship’s sinking. For Navy and Marine personnel, the life and death decisions of the commanding officer, and the actions of the crew onboard and in the water may be analyzed considering the operational policies and circumstances, leaders’ decision-making processes, and their own military experiences.

For the writers of this well-researched book, it has been a very personal endeavor. Their inspiration and dedication have been sustained because of personal connections to this tragedy either as family members of the Steward Mates or someone key in the rescue. I worked closely with two contributors. One is Jane Goodall, the daughter of the pilot, Lt. W.C. “Chuck” Gwinn, who first spotted the men in the water on August 02, 1945. The other is the niece of one of the black sailors, Albert Rice, Steward Mate First Class, who is still “Lost At Sea” but “Home in the Hearts” of his family. It was her father, a fraternity brother, who asked me to be a part of his most worthwhile project. I am so thankful and honored that the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) Legacy Organization permitted me to write this Foreword.

While I was able to locate my father’s Selective Service Registration Card on Ancestry.com, finding information and documentation about these black sailors was and continues to be challenging to the research effort due to Covid. Archives were closed and many government employees began working from home. Record repositories no longer allow outsiders to do research. Additionally, there are major request backlogs. For example, there were 6,000 standing requests ahead of the family’s request to obtain Albert Rice’s discharge papers. Despite these challenges, the committee is to be commended for its thorough research.

In my opinion, there are several hopeful outcomes from this book. One, the names of these twenty-eight black sailors will be highlighted within the USS Indianapolis Museum exhibit in Indianapolis’s War Memorial building. Two, the families of these once-forgotten black sailors will contact the Legacy Committee with information about their loved ones. Three, that future endeavors to locate and obtain information from official files about these men and other veterans will not be so difficult for family members and researchers.

Also, this is not just Navy History; it is American History for all ages, and the need to bring this black history out of the shadows for the public is most important. This need was reinforced by my twelve-year-old grandson, Cole Michael Dozier, a sixth-grader. By chance, he was required to read an article about the Indianapolis tragedy in one of his classes. He was aware of this effort. He texted me and asked if he could help me with my research. For his efforts, I purchased and gave him one of the ship’s Congressional Gold Medals.

Finally, it is hoped historians, movie makers, producers of documentaries, and writers...