On a recent trip to Broomfield, Colorado, a suburb situated about midway between Denver and Boulder, I came across a memorial to those who served on the USS Indianapolis. If you don't know the story of the USS Indianapolis...well, then you haven't seen the movie
Jaws.
In the film, Captain Quint (Robert Shaw) tells the story of how the ship was sunk by torpedo fire after having delivered the atomic bomb. The survivors waited four days in shark-infested waters to be rescued. Of the 1197 sailors on board, only 317 survived.
This memorial was erected in 2000. One of the major contributors was Broomfield resident and Indianapolis survivor Paul J. Murphy...who I'm pretty sure I met at the airport a few years ago. I was returning from a trip and was riding on the shuttle bus to one of the long-term parking lots. With me on the bus was an elderly man and his wife, both of whom were wearing various military insignias. Some of the other passengers started asking them some questions and they explained they were returning from a reunion of Indianapolis survivors. "Do you know the story of the Indianapolis?" his wife said. Of course, my brain thought, "You mean the ship they talk about in
Jaws?" but I didn't say that. Instead, we all just let these folks tell their story...because even if you do know the story it's always better to let those who lived it share. The wife mentioned that her husband was, at the time, the only survivor living in Colorado.
This simple memorial can be found on the northwest side of the pond at Community Park in Broomfield, right near the amphitheater.
