Navy Seaman 1st Class Burnice Rufus Silcox was born on April 27, 1922 in Bratt, Florida. He was the son of Rumley "Rummie" David Silcox (1890-1941) and Kathy "Katie" Virginia Flowers (1896-1982). By 1940, the family was living in Milton and Burnice was working for his father as a farm laborer. However, the family would change residences several times until 1945 when they were living at 514 East DeLeon Street, Pensacola. His father supported his family as a farm laborer prior to his premature death in 1941.
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. There he would serve in the New Guinea campaign as well as the Aleutian Islands. After refitting at Mare Island, the ship moved to Hawaii as flagship of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance commander of the 5th Fleet. In November 1943, she was part of the task force that assisted in the landings on Tarawa. Then it was on to the landings in the Marshall Islands followed by the Western Carolines and then the great Marianna campaign. More fighting ensued as the war approached its final stages with the landings at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
With the invasion of the Japanese homelands in limbo President Harry S. Truman had to make a momentous decision that's never been equaled in the presidency of the United States. To drop or not to drop the atomic bomb! He knew there were 2 million Japanese soldiers and sailors stationed in Japan just waiting to repel the coming American invasion. This did not include the civilian population who were just as determined to protect their homes and families. The low-end estimate of American causalities was placed at one million.
To this end, Burnice and 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 safely delivered. 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 below were 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 specific 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 zigzagging 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 Mochitsura Hashimoto, commander of the I-58, died five days before the exoneration.
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