HomeMy WebLinkAboutGlenn G. Morgan, Brazos Valley Heroes
One in a series of tributes to members of "The Greatest'
Generation" who served our country ,during World War II
up the ramp, sal~ted those colors and went aboard. It
WQuld be my home for the next two years of my life."
Morgan woulq serve on the Indianapolis for all the
operations it was involved in during the re-taking of
the South Pacific. The Indianapolis was the flagship of
Admiral Spruance because of the quarters available to
Ask anyone who served in the military if they've . him there. and because of its speed.
ever heard of the sinking of the USS Iildianapolis and
, they will probably tell you yes. It's a story told to every "Whenever we had general. quarters, I was on the '.
boot or basic trainee to emphasize the need to learn to bridge and was able to see all the action from that
swim. It was the one story from my Dad, who served viewpoint, from Peleliu to Iwo Jima. We were .hit by ,
in the Navy in the SOl-lth Pacific during World Warn, . fire on more than one occasion, but nothing serious.
that convinced me I did not want to be in the Navy. At Iwo Jima, I stood 30 hours of general quarters as
we fired starburst or projectiles the whole time,
. " Last week I heard the story from beginning to end
from one who lived it - the co-chairman of the USS "The day before D"day on Okinawa we \lVere near "
Indianapolis Survivors Group, Glenn C. Morgan of Kamaretto Island, just west of Okinawa. I had' just
Camp Creek in Robertson County. been relievf;ld from the watch and was still Stahdinq
Morgan, now 83, was bor~ in 1923 in Oklahoma but on the bridge when I saw a kamikaze, plime coming
grew up in severaflocations because his dad worked ' right for the bridge. As it came toward the bridge, it
. in the oil fields of Oklahoma, Kansas and Illinois. leveled off and then dove straight into the ship, just
"I graduated from Salem tligh in Salem, Illinois, but screaming in.
had registered for the draft while we lived in Kansas," "It hittowfird the fantail and the bomb went
hf;l recalled. "After I graduated I, too, went to work in' ,through al,l the decks and came out the bottom. It
) the, oil field. I went to work for Texaco and reallY liKed ,didn't explode until it hit the screw rafts. We closed off
, working for them, butsoon got my draft notice for all the watertight doors and held a mustefof the crew. '
the Army. A short time before, I had notified t~e draft . We had 23 people in my section and we ended up six
board in Kansasthat.1 'now lived in Illinois. I gotmy short, including my bugler friend who hadboarded the
draft notice within clays. '. ' . Indianapolis with me. We held a service for them and
" "We reported' to Chicago's jnduction center and buried them at sea.
I saw a naval officer. there. I decided to see if there "We limped in. to Kamaretto Island to get repaired
. were any' opportunities other than the Army. Texaco, enough to get backto the States. We were surrounded
had given me a resume and a report on, my training by light boats to try to stop the Japanese from
and skills. When I gave that to him,hetook me to see. swimming out with charges.at night from .the Island.
the Navy, Marine and Seabee guys. I chose the Navy. Needless to say, we were all pretty tense. As we were
"I underwent boot camp at Great Lakes Naval in the bay getting repairs, a twin-engine Japanese
Station outs,ide of' Chicago. .lllad taken my cornet to Betty came over the mountain and headf;ld down the
training with, me and one night I was playing 'Stardust' bay, where it flew into an LST loaded with ammo. It
in the head when a guy popped hiS head in and said,. was the biggest explosion I had ever seen. You, could
'You need to join the drum and bugle corps.' That was feel the concussion all the way up the bay. '
the beginnin,gof my career as a Navy bugler. ,lAs soon ,as we could make the necessary repairs,
"After boot camp I married my wife, Mertie, and we we hightailed it.back to the U.S. for an overhaul."
were stationed at Great Lakes, as part oUhe training
cadre. My commandElf liked me and the job I had But the most significant involvement of the
done and volunteered to help stop my transfer orders Indianapolis hi the war and its place in military lore
" that cam.e in ordering' me to report to San Francisco. I was yet to come.
decided to go and ended up on Mare Island as part of, Glenn Morgans name can be found on the Brazos .
a crew they were making up. 'Valley' Veterans, Memorial. For mote information, to
"One day I was told to get my gear, as I was being make a contribution, or if you know a WorldWar II
transferred. They took rne and llootherbugler biJddy Veteran whose story needs to betold,contact the
, of mine to the pier to board the USS, Jndianapolis, a BWM at www.'veteransmemorial.org, or Bill Youngkin
heavy cruiser. It looked really ominous to me. I walked at (979) 260-7030.
Th~dE~le
First of two parts
By Bill Youngkin
Special to The Eagle
One in a series of tributes to members of "'l Greatest
Generation" who served our country durin.; world \Var II
Second of Three Parts
By Bill Youngkin
Special to The Eagle
Glen G. Morgan is the co- chairman of the LISS
Indianapolis Survivors Group. Today he continues the
story of the Indianapolis after the kamikaze attack on
the eve of the invasion of Okinawa.
"After getting what repairs we could at Kamaretto
Isiand for the damage we received, we limped back
to the U.S. for an overhaul. We were stationed at Mare
Island for the overhall and before we were to go on a
shakedown cruise, we were told we would be heading
to San Diego. This was the first time the Navy ever told
the crew where we were headed, which we thought
was rather strange.
"Before heading to San Diego we went to Hunters
Point, where they loaded a big wooden box on board.
What was unusual about the box - other than it being
the size of a van - the box was polished wood with
all the countersunk screw holes covered with wax. In
addition, a detachment of Marines was assigned to
guard it day and night.
"We .lew it was su.l lething more thanjust a big box
and the rumors started. Some of the guys said it was
filled with .._ ^ote l toilet paper for General MacArthur
and his staff. Someone said the captain had been told
that whatever was in the box had the capability cf ° e
ending the war.
"The Indianapolis was a very fast ship, capable of
33 knots. We headed out at full speed, not to San Diego
but to Hawaii. I am told that our travel time to Hawaii
is still a record in the Navy. When we reached Hawaii,
we refueled and were underway immediately to Tinian
Island. There the box was offloaded and it was soon
ashore.
"Later we were to realize that what we had
delivered did shorten the war it was the atomic bomb
first dropped on Hiroshima.
"From Tinian Island we headed to Guam and then
on to the Philippines to meet up with some battleships.
We had no escort and did not have sonar gear to detect
submarines. Our second night out we were hit by two
torpedoes from a Japanese submarine.
"The two torpedoes hit in the bay area and the ship
began to list immediately. I bunked in an area beneath
the bridge and was asleep at the time. The time was 10
minutes after midnight, July 30,1945. My bunk mate,
Ralph, and I decided to stick together and see if we
could get to the bridge to get a lifejacket. It was hard
to climb the ladder because of the slant of the ship. We
made it to the bridge, but there were no lifejackets.
"The order to abandon ship had already been
sounded. On the bridge was Lt. Orr and one of my
bugle buddies, Donald Mack. Lt. Orr said we all needed
to get out of there, so I said "See you later, sir," saluted
and went over the side. The banister was now at a 45-
degree angle and I had to crawl over it to get down
to the next deck. I assumed Ralph was following but
when I got down, no Ralph. I hollered for him but no
answer.
"I crawled over another banister and then down
the superstructure. By the whole nose of the
ship was underwater pushed me up under
one of our guns wRt ;ticking straight up. As
I held onto the bars tell like I was going up when
in reality, the gun was going down because the ship
was sinking.
"I swam away as fast as I could and then watched
my home forthe lasttwo years disappear into the South
Pacif ic. The ship by now had the hind end sticking out
with the screws still turning. I had heard that a sinking
ship could suck you under with it, so 1 swam farther
away.
"When it disappeared, there were tons of white
bubbles, bubbling up out of the water. The water had
so much phosphorus in it, the bubbles just glowed.
Then, after awhile, everything was quiet. There was no
one around me. I was by myself floating in the ocean.
I remember not being too concerned because I was
a good swimmer and I thought I would be picked up
after daylight.
"As I floated in the ocean and as I topped a swale,
I noticed a dark object several hundred feet away. I
decided to see what it was. As I swam toward the
object, I didn't realize I was swimming through a lot of
fuel. As I got closer, I could see that it was one of our
planes that had fallen off the catapult. I could see that it
was beginning to sink, but underneath the plane was a
life raft. I watched the plane sink and then crawled into
the fife raft. During the whole time I was in the water,
I never once thought of sharks. That life raft would be
the barrier between me and those sharks."
That Ile raft was to be the difference between life
and death for Morgan. Next week, the rescue.
Glen G. Morgan 's name can be found on the Brazos
Valley Veterans Memorial For more information; to
make a contribution, or if you know a World War 11
Veteran whose story needs lobe told, contact the BVIMI
at www veteransmemodal.org or Bill Youngkin at (979)
260 -7030.
The E gle
Here when you need us.
WW II vet Dick Davidson will be the guest on
"Veterans of the Valley" this week on KAMU -N veterans of A
the Valley, hosted by WTAW's Tom Turbiville, can be seen Fridays at -
8:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 6:30 p.m.
NAMLLuamuedu
Cnannel l5 /cox ruble
One in a series of tributes to members of ° "I he Greatest
Generation" who served our country during World War 11
Vi u oY�l`llo 1fi77':'U7t -
By Bill Youngkin
Special to The Eagle
Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, the U.S.S.
Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine. Glenn
G. Morgan of Camp Creek was aboard. The photo above,
taken of him in uniform, was cropped from a picture with
six of his buddies from the Indianapolis. Of the seven
sailors in the photo, only Morgan and one other were to
survive.
Morgan was lucky. He was able to find a raft that had
been stuck under one of the ship's planes that was sinking
and crawled into it.
"After I got into the raft I could see some other heads
in the water and some other rafts," he recalled. "We
eventually ended up that night with four rafts and twenty
guys in the rafts. We tied the rafts together so that we were
floating in a rectangular shape. We knew we had been
sunk by a submarine and we didn't want to show a light.
We waited for daylight and what we hoped would be our
immediate rescue.
"At daylight, the waves started to whitecap. Someone
in one of the other rafts lost a canister overboard. It was a
canister containing some flares, so I said I would swim out
and get it before it drifted away. That was when the guy
next to me, J.J. Moran, said,'Take a look out there!' When I
did, I noticed for the first time sharks in the water.
"The water was real clear where we were and you
could see a good ways down into the water. Looking down,
you could see sharks everywhere. There were hundreds of
them. I remember being surprised that sharks would be
out here in the middle of the ocean and not near a shore
somewhere.
"About 9 a.m. that first day we began to wonder why
we hadn't seen any rescue effort. There was nothing. No
ships, no planes, nothing. We thought we were the only
survivors. The rafts had canisters of water and some
containers of food, Spam. We would learn later that our
buddies who didn't find rafts would be in the water for four
days with no food, no water and all those sharks.
"About mid - moming the first day, I got sick and started
to vomit up the black oil I had swallowed swimming in the
water the night before. I and most of the others were the
same way most of the day. My eyes were also affected by
the oil and I couldn't wash them with the seawater, so I
would spit in my hands and rub my eyes until finally they
Geared.
"In one of the rafts was one of our officers, Lt. Freeze,
who had been burned. He looked like he had a real bad
sunburn. That afternoon he wanted to shoot flares even
though nothing was on the horizon. By late that afternoon
he just shared, with his eyes starting to glaze over. We kept
watch over him, but by 2:30 in the morning we couldn't find
a pulse. That morning, we held a prayer service over him
and slid him over the side. We didn't watch the body sink
because that was something none of us wanted to do.
"During the second, third and fourth days, we watched
the sharks watching us. One of the sharks was a really
large one that we named Charlie. About the third day, I was
sitting on a comer of the raft. You couldn't sit on the side of
the raft without coordination. As I was sitting there I noticed
Charlie approaching. He didn't circle, he came right on in.
I scooted the guy next to me over as Charlie came right
up on the raft. He didn't open his mouth, he just looked at
us and then slid back into the water. We figured he was
just curious but he was with us the whole time we were
in the water.
"About the third day, one of the guys suggested that
we begin paddling toward the nearest land, at least do
something besides float. Then someone said, 'Which
direction and how far is that?' and I replied, 'About a mile
and a hag' and pointed straight down. No one thought my
comment was very funny. I found out later I was wrong. It
was about four miles to the bottom.
"We rationed the water and food, but we were also able
to fish to supplement the Spam. It was my first experience
with sushi. On the evening of the fourth night, we knew we
were going to be rescued because we could see search
lights off in the distance.
"On the morning of the fifth day, we saw a dot over the
horizon and recognized it as a plane. We pulled our mirrors
out and flashed the sunlight back toward A. It soon flew
right toward and over us. it was a Catalina, a plane that
could land on the water. It didn't land because it was being
used to pick up the floaters. We learned later that most of
the guys who could only float were over 50 miles from our
location. Most of them had been rescued the day before.
"Over the horizon came the APO Ringness with 39 guys
they had picked up from other rafts. We were taken to the
hospital in Peleliu and then on to Guam. While at Guam, I
was awarded the Purple Heart. I came back to the states on
an aircraft carrier. I was given leave, and before my leave
was up I was told I had enough points to be discharged.
Texaco offered me my old job back and they let me keep ".
my seniority. I stayed with Texaco for the next 37 years."
Of the 1,197 men aboard the U.S.S. Indianapolis when
it sank, only 317 survived. It is estimated that 300 men
went down with the ship. The rest died of wounds they
had received, drowned or were Wiled by the sharks. Of
the 317 survivors, B4 are still alive today. The governor of
Indiana recently offered space for a memorial in a museum
in Indianapolis for the men and the memory of the U.S.S.
Indianapolis. That memorial is being assembled today.
Glenn G. Morgan 's name can be found on the Brazos
Valley Veterans Memorial. For more information, to make
a conMbution, or if you know a World War 9 Veteran
whose story needs to be told, contact the BWM at www
veleransmemonalorg or Bill Youngkin at (979) 260 -7030.
The Eagle
Here when yW need us.
WW 11 vet Dick Davidson will be the guest on
"Veterans of the Valley" this week on KAMU -N. veterans of
the valley, hosted by WTAW's Tom Turbiville, can be seen Fridays at
8:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 6:30 p.m. ®�xnnlu, "m „ea„