Seaman 1st Class Burnice Rufus Silcox was born on April 27, 1922 in Bratt, Florida. He was the son of Rumley "Rummie" David and Katie Virginia Flowers who changed residences several times until 1945 when they were living at 514 East DeLeon Street, Pensacola. After Pearl Harbor, Burnice enlisted in the Navy on February 21, 1942 in Birmingham, Alabama. After his basic training he was assigned to the heavy cruiser CA-35 USS Indianapolis on April 13, 1942. As the war approached the final stages, President Harry S. Truman made the famous decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan to save further American lives. To this end, the Indianapolis was dispatched to Tinian with a shipment of enriched uranium to be loaded into the bomb called "Little Boy."
In record time, she arrived at Tinian on July 26, 1945 with the deadly shipment. Departing Tinian with a stopover at Guam, the Indianapolis sailed for Leyte to join Task Force 95. However, without their knowledge, the cruiser was being stalked by the Japanese submarine I-58 as they sailed through the Philippine Sea. Suddenly, at 0015 hours on July 30, 1945 two torpedoes slammed into her starboard side causing massive explosions. The destruction was so complete that the huge ship sank in just twelve minutes. Of the 1,195 crewmen, 300 went down with the ship. The remaining men went into the water with little time for lifeboats or life jackets!
The Navy's high command never even knew that the Indianapolis was missing so no one was looking for them! Not until August 2nd did a patrol plane accidentally discover a large group of men adrift on the ocean amid a trail of oil. Horribly, the pilots saw the men surrounded by a large group of sharks! The sinking of the Indianapolis resulted in the greatest number of shark attacks in history. In addition to the sharks, most deaths were attributed to exposure, salt poisoning, and thirst. By the time of the rescue only 317 men were left with estimates of 150 men eaten by sharks! What brought about the death of Pensacolian Burnice Rufus Silcox will never be known, but regardless he gave his life for his country!
The ship's captain, Charles B. McVay III was court martialed in November 1945 for "hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag." Even the Japanese submarine's captain testified that zig-zagging would have made no difference, all to no avail for McVay. He was restored to duty by Admiral Nimitz, but the guilt he felt brought about his suicide in 1968 at the age of 70-years old. Fifty years later, Hunter Scott, a 12-year-old student in Pensacola, Florida, became instrumental in raising awareness of Captain McVay's miscarriage of justice. As part of a school project, the young man interviewed survivors of the sinking and then testified before Congress about his findings. In October 2000, Congress passed a resolution exonerating McVay for the loss of the USS Indianapolis. Sadly, his old adversary Captain Hashimoto, commander of the I-58, died five days before the exoneration.
