Donald L. Beaty, a World War II veteran, one of the last survivors of the USS Indianapolis, and a former speaker at Warsaw Community High School, died March 23 not long after learning he had cancer.
Beaty spoke to WCHS students and staff Nov. 11 for Veterans Day.
The world’s first operational atomic bomb was delivered by the Indianapolis to the island of Tinian July 26, 1945, according to www.ussindianapolis.org The Indianapolis then reported to Commander-In-Chief Pacific Headquarters at Guam for further orders. It was directed to join the battleship USS Idaho at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines to prepare for the invasion of Japan. The Indianapolis, unescorted, departed Guam.
At 14 minutes past midnight, on July 30, 1945, midway between Guam and Leyte Gulf, the ship was hit by two torpedoes out of six fired by the I-58, a Japanese submarine, according to the website. The first blew away the bow, the second struck near midship on the starboard side adjacent to a fuel tank and a powder magazine. The resulting explosion split the ship to the keel, knocking out all electric power. Within minutes it went down rapidly by the bow, rolling to starboard.
Of the 1,196 aboard, about 900 made it into the water in the 12 minutes before it sank, according to the website. Few life rafts were released. Most survivors wore the standard kapok life jacket. Shark attacks began with sunrise of the first day and continued until the men were physically removed from the water, almost five days later.
Beaty, one of 317 survivors of the USS Indianapolis disaster, told WCHS that he grew up in Fort Wayne, graduating from Central High School in 1943. By July 5, he was in the Navy. He was 18 when he joined.
He said he ended up on the USS Indianapolis in Pearl Harbor.
“USS Indianapolis was a beautiful ship,” Beaty told the students during the Veterans Day convocation. “It was a flag ship of President Roosevelt.”
Asked by Warsaw Community Schools Chief Academics Officer David Hoffert how he managed to survive in the water after the USS Indianapolis went down, Beaty replied, “Anyone in a situation like I was, it’s in your mind. You got to take care of yourself. You can’t help your buddies because you have to save your own strength.”
The USS Indianapolis was attacked July 30 just a few minutes past midnight. Beaty said he had just gone on watch when the attacked occurred.
The first night of the attack, Beaty said he swam away from the sinking ship as far as he could. Sailors were worried about the suction the sinking ship would create.
It was a miracle the survivors were ever saved at all, Hoffert said. Beaty said a Bomber pilot happened to be flying overhead when he glanced down. At first, he was going to bomb what he thought was an enemy sub. As he got closer, the pilot saw the heads. He landed his plane on the open water and saved who he could. He also radioed for ships to help the rest. Since ships could only go 15 knots, Beaty said it was another full day before they could be picked up.
“Survivors were stretched out for better of a mile,” Beaty said.
In 1960, the survivors began having reunions. Beaty turned 87 in January, and with so few survivors left, the reunions have become annual events.
According to IndySurvivor.org, only 46 survivors of the Indianapolis remain as of March 28.
Asked for a last word of advice during the convocation, Beaty told the students, “Get a good education. Nothing in this world will get you anywhere like a good education.”
