John L. Sipes - Adamsville, TN - Specific Veteran Memorials on Waymarking.com

County of memorial: McNairy County
Location of memorial: Main St. (US-64), Baptist St., & Old Stage Rd., veterans memorial in traffic triangle, Adamsville

Memorial Text:

"Seventy-one years ago this Saturday, the 10,000-ton Portland-class cruiser was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-58 approximately 250 miles north of the island of Palau. The warship, which had only days earlier delivered the components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the island of Tinian from the United States, was sailing to rejoin the fleet at the Filipino island of Leyte when she was struck on the starboard bow by two torpedoes. The explosions occurred shortly after midnight on July 30, 1945. Within 12 minutes, the Indianapolis capsized and sank taking down more than 300 of her crew. An estimated 880 managed to abandon the stricken ship. Because of the the top secret nature of the Indianapolis’ mission, officers aboard refused to send a distress signal. As a result, the admirals had no idea the vessel was lost and no rescue operation was mounted. For four days, the survivors bobbed about in the Pacific slowly dying of thirst and exposure; hundreds fell prey to packs of ravenous sharks. It wasn’t until Aug. 2 that a U.S. Navy patrol plane spotted men in the water and radioed for assistance. By that point, only 321 of the crew were still alive." ~ Military History Now