"We tried to all gather in the water and keep ourselves together where the sharks wouldn't get us. (Video Interview, 22:29)

Louis Harold Erwin

Louis Harold Erwin, 2003 War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Navy Unit: USS Indianapolis (CA 354) Service Location: Pacific Theater; Gilbert Islands; Marshall Islands; Mariana Islands; Western Caroline Islands; Iwo Jima; Okinawa Island (Ryukyu Islands) Rank: Coxswain Place of Birth: Dayton, TN

Louis Erwin spent four days and five nights at sea after the USS Indianapolis went down, floating in a kapok life jacket. He lost hundreds of shipmates during those harrowing days and nights—to sharks, to madness from drinking salt water, and from a loss of hope for rescue. Erwin survived, only to see their captain court-martialed for the sinking. For Erwin, the tragedy is that Leyte did not alert anyone to the fact that the Indianapolis never arrived.