RICHMOND, Va. — Sitting silently in our WTVR-TV archives for twenty-four years, there are two video tapes that are talking volumes right this moment. On the tapes are recordings of a person from Williamsburg, Virginia, who lived by way of one of many worst disasters in U.S. Navy historical past.
Richard Paroubek survived the sinking of the united statesS. Indianapolis 80 years in the past this month.
“Unusually sufficient, I didn’t hear or really feel the explosion,” Mr. Paroubek stated. “However I discovered myself unconscious on the deck.”
Most of his recollections captured throughout an interview with this reporter in 2001 have by no means been heard.
On July 30, 1945, the heavy cruiser was transferring by way of the Philippine Sea. After finishing a high secret mission two Japanese torpedoes slam into the Indy. She sinks in simply 12 minutes.
“After that, the ship began to listing fairly strongly,” stated Mr. Paroubek. “And I simply put my toes over the railing and as she was going over I simply slid down the facet of the ship and I hit the water and swam away as quick as I might.”
About 300 males go down with the ship. 9 hundred males, together with 23-year-old Richard Paroubek, wrestle to remain afloat.
“I believe I used to be ready to die,” stated Mr. Paroubek. “In fact individuals, males had been crying out for his or her fellow shipmates, asking for assist as a result of that they had been injured and so forth. In fact we survived the night time. And the subsequent morning we thought we had been gonna be picked up and rescued, however that didn’t occur.”
It’s the starting of a tortuous odyssey. No consuming water, no meals, barely any rafts in water swarming with sharks.
“Males began swimming away, they hallucinate as a result of they’d drink the ocean water. I prayed so much and considered household and associates and issues like that to maintain my thoughts occupied,” stated Mr. Paroubek. “Effectively I by no means had any encounter with a shark, however I did see the fins floating round and each every now and then I’d hear someone scream. I didn’t notice what that was on the time.”
Shipmates of the Yeoman 1st Class are dying from accidents, solar publicity and dehydration throughout him.
“The primary morning there was a depend. And I consider the entire was near 150 and out of that group 67 survived,” stated Mr. Paroubek.
4 and half days after the sinking of the Indianapolis a U.S. Naval airplane spots what’s remaining of the Indy’s crew. Rescuers lastly arrived. Simply 316 out of the 1,195 males who had been serving on the Indy lived to inform the story.
“My two shipmates who had been within the workplace with me didn’t survive,” stated Mr. Paroubek. “I can’t describe it to you. To begin with, it was great getting out of the water this was heaven. After which to get this rescue, this was additionally very exhilarating.”
The Indianapolis tragedy makes headlines however is basically forgotten when the top of WWII arrives simply weeks later.
U.S. Navy Commander Amy Thomas admires the braveness of the boys of the Indy who’ve develop into a part of the Navy’s lore.
“The Indianapolis shows, however the tragedy triumph of struggle,” says Commander Thomas. “And that’s the widespread thread that ties us to the crew in Indianapolis we’re all ship we proceed to hold their legacy and remembering them installs in me an ideal honor to placed on the uniform every single day.”
Years later, People be taught in regards to the Indy’s demise in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster Jaws, when Captain Quint delivers one of the crucial chilling scenes in film historical past.
Govt Director of the Virginia Warfare Memorial Clay Mountcastle says as we transfer farther from the occasion, the sailor’s recollections develop into much more invaluable.
“I can’t even think about what it might’ve felt like,” says Dr. Mountcastle. “It makes you look again and be grateful that veterans are in a position to share their tales with us and in a means that we had made it an even bigger effort to seize extra tales once we might have.”
Twenty-four years in the past this month, 79-year-old Richard Paroubek was getting ready for the reunion of the Indianapolis’ crew. It was an annual occasion the veteran by no means missed up till his dying in 2010.
“It brings again recollections of after all this is among the main issues that you simply wish to do and it’s a comradeship and bond that we all the time have and we get nearer as a result of the ranks at the moment are getting smaller. It’s good to see the blokes once more,” stated Mr. Paroubek.
Eighty years faraway from U.S.S. Indianapolis tragedy, one sailor’s story preserved perpetually. His voice nonetheless echoing throughout the a long time.
“I’ll let you know why I by no means misplaced hope. I don’t really feel like that,” stated Mr. Paroubek. “That is going to hold on the sensation of the Indianapolis and the sacrifice of the 880 males who gave their lives for his or her nation.”
As of July 2025, one U.S.S. Indianapolis survivor continues to be residing. Based on the official web site of the united statesIndianapolis, 98-year-old Harold John Bray lives in California.
CBS 6 is dedicated to sharing neighborhood voices on this vital subject. E mail your ideas to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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