Historic WWII ships’ crew honored

Posted 8/13/20

Two Thursdays past, the crew of the USS Indianapolis (CA 35) received the Congressional Gold Medal for extraordinary service to the nation. West Texas native and Memphis resident Cleatus A. Lebow is …

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Historic WWII ships’ crew honored

Posted

Two Thursdays past, the crew of the USS Indianapolis (CA 35) received the Congressional Gold Medal for extraordinary service to the nation. West Texas native and Memphis resident Cleatus A. Lebow is one of only eight crew members yet living who sailed on Indianapolis’ final voyage. 

Lebow’s eldest daughter, Sonja (Lebow) Rosson, moved to Mineola 20 years ago with her late husband, Bobby. She shared some thoughts about her father and the Indianapolis as the date of the Congressional Gold Medal award drew near.      

There is so much to the saga of the USS Indianapolis that some issues must be set aside before addressing the topic at hand.  

Brought to the forefront of the nation’s conscious by popular culture (the movie Jaws), the Indianapolis is famous for many things in her storied service life. 

She was a favorite of President Roosevelt, who often embarked the heavy cruiser. Most notably, he conducted the multi-nation South American Good Neighbor Tour of 1936 from her decks, visiting Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Trinidad.

The heavy cruiser class of warships was a jack of all trades in the Pacific War and fulfilled a multitude of tasks. In her war service she earned ten battle stars: Bougainville and Salamaua-Lae raids, Aleutian Islands, Gilbert Islands, Marshall Islands, Asiatic Pacific raids, Marianas Islands, the capture of Tinian Island, Western Caroline Islands, Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations.   

Indianapolis served frequently as a flagship for Vice Admiral Spruance, commander of Task Force 50. She was most effective as a shore bombardment ship and as an anti-aircraft screening ship. 

Her most historical mission was, of course, her last, as she transported elements of the atomic bomb 

from San Francisco to the island of Tinian.  

On the ensuing passage from Guam to the Philippines she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. She sank in minutes. Of a crew of 1,195 men, only 316 would live through the sinking and its aftermath.             

The loss of Indianapolis resulted in the courts-martial of the ship’s commanding officer, Captain Charles McVay, III.  The courts-martial conviction remains controversial to this day. 

In 2001, then Secretary of the Navy Gordon England directed that a letter of congressional exoneration be placed in Captain McVay’s personnel file. McVay had committed suicide in 1968. 

The Navy’s delay in realizing the ship was sunk, which led to inhuman conditions for those who survived the initial sinking, brought changes to the Navy. Effective systems were put in place to track the locations of ships at sea and document every soul who sails on a passage. These systems remain in place today.

Behind the naval battles, the atomic bomb, the sinking, the Navy failings, the ordeal of the survivors, Captain McVay, and the changes which the saga brought to the Navy is a ship and a crew.

For one East Texas family, last week’s award of the Congressional Gold Medal to the crew of the USS Indianapolis was a lifetime in coming. 

Cleatus Lebow, 96, was a Fire Controlman Operator, Third Class on July 30, 1945. He was just turning in to his bunk, at midnight, when the first torpedo struck. Within minutes the 9,800-ton ship was heeling heavily to starboard and down by the bow. 

U.S. naval records state that two torpedoes struck the ship; the Japanese recorded that three had struck home. Regardless, a massive explosion shook the ship. Lebow believes the large explosion was from either an exploding 7,000-gallon aviation fuel tank or a forward powder magazine or both.  

With a quick, “Lord help me,” Lebow scrambled down the side of the overturning ship and stepped into the dark waters of the Philippine Sea. 

Many of the men who made it clear of the sinking ship succumbed to injuries. An untold number drowned or were taken by sharks. 

By the fifth day, dehydration had taken its toll. Delirium was common. Unholy acts of men driven by dehydration and delirium occurred.

Lebow also had moments of delirium. His shipmate, Clarence Hershberger – who became a lifelong friend – pulled him back to the raft they were on when Lebow attempted to swim off. He had been hallucinating.

The delirium was especially acute at night when, due to exhaustion and dehydration, manic episodes of fear and suspicion spread through those still clinging to life. 

Lebow was on flotsam consisting of four life rafts and a large cargo net. After the sinking, 129 sailors clung to that flotsam. Five days later only 60 remained alive.

“We said the Lord’s prayer every morning and every evening,” recounted Lebow.

Having been spotted only by the chance passing of a U.S. patrol aircraft, the rescue of survivors commenced.  

A dozen ships and multiple aircraft participated in the rescue operation. Lebow was picked up by the USS Bassett and put ashore to Fleet Hospital 114 on Samar, Philippines. 

After reuniting with all survivors at the base hospital on Guam and following a significant hospital stay, Lebow sailed back stateside in the USS Hollandia. Thirty days of survivor’s leave followed, before his next set of orders.

With the end of the war, Lebow was discharged on Nov. 7, 1945. 

At the time her father entered the Navy, Sonja was an infant. As she grew, the USS Indianapolis Survivors Organization became a well-known part of her life. 

The first meeting was in 1960. By then a young woman, Rosson remembers the extraordinary effect the group had on her father.

“There were a lot of tears,” she explained, “as these men could talk to one another about what they had lived through.”

The group also attempted to clear Captain McVay’s name.

“We wrote letters to support McVay,” Lebow stated, “and 12 survivors went to testify before the Senate.” McVay had captained the Indianapolis through a number of battles. As Rosson learned, “He really knew his men and respected them.”

Lebow had been on Indianapolis for eight of the ten major engagements of her wartime service. His work as a fire controlman placed him in the fire control director high above the bridge of the ship. It also afforded him a bird’s eye view of all actions. 

He recalled seeing the original, not the publicized, raising of the Stars and Stripes on Mount Suribachi when the ship was close ashore Iwo Jima to provide fire support. 

Earlier, at the battle for Saipan, he witnessed Japanese civilians leaping to their death off the coastal cliffs of the island.

“I wished I couldn’t see that anymore,” he stated. 

Certainly the sharing of those memories was a part of the therapy among the Indianapolis survivors throughout the years. 

Most assuredly, there were many other memories, perhaps memories of a taut ship with an excellent record. For certain, the most important memories were those of their shipmates, both those who survived and the hundreds who perished.  

As Lebow recounted the habit among the crew of making off with food from the galley to carry back to their work spaces, or periodic boxing matches onboard, or boiling eggs in the coffee pot of the fire control station, one could sense some of the life that the crew brought to the ship.  

The Indianapolis Survivors Organization has passed on to families now, but the mission of the group remains. Their efforts have been amplified through the USS Indianapolis Legacy Organization. Created in 2018, the mission of the Legacy Organization is to promote and perpetuate the memory of all who served on Indianapolis. 

That legacy of service and sacrifice lives on in one of the newest warships in today’s fleet. On Oct. 26, 2019, the latest ship to bear the name Indianapolis was commissioned into service. Littoral Combat Ship 17 (LCS 17) became the fourth warship to carry the name. 

The Congressional Gold Medal honors individuals, institutions or events as an expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements. Among the individual recipients are Rosa Parks, Steve Gleason and Louis L’Amour. Groups such as the Tuskegee Airmen and the American Red Cross are also among the awardees.

Congressional gold medal legislation must be co-sponsored by at least a two-thirds majority of House members and a 67-member majority in the Senate. President Trump signed the legislation into law on Dec. 20, 2018.

The public law simply states: “to award the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the crew of the USS Indianapolis, in recognition of their perseverance, bravery and service to the United States.” 

On July 30, marking the 75th anniversary of the sinking of Indianapolis, the crew was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.  

The wreck of Indianapolis has recently been located, lying at 18,000 feet at the bottom of the Philippine Sea. She will remain a war grave, and the Gold Medal brings the saga of the Indianapolis near full circle. 

The award ceremony was conducted with all the pomp of official Washington events. One gold medal, struck specifically in honor of the event by the United States Mint, will be held in the Indiana War Memorial Museum.  

Honoring the crew of the Indianapolis reiterates that despite the numerous story lines which were spawned by her service, the heart and soul of the ship will always remain the crew.   

For Sonja Rosson the honor brings a range of emotions.

“I am so proud,” she stated, “but at the same time there is a sadness, deep down, of the tragedy.”  

Note: Direct quotes from Cleatus Lebow were taken from his oral history dictated to Richard Misenhimer of the National Museum of the Pacific/Admiral Nimitz Foundation on May 2, 2006.