My friend, Tom McGuiggan's dad was on the ship.

wow, that is cool.

the whole bomb thing ruined one of my favorite books, The English Patient.

You mean in general or when Sgt Hardy got blowed up?

wow, that is cool.

It's a sad story about the commander and his court martial. I think the guy committed suicide with a toy sailor in his hand.

Yeah, Tom is from a military family. I think his older brother died in Vietnam. Tom himself was in the Air Force and he worked on some nuclear shit at Los Alamos. He also drove Reagan around when he came to Chicago to speak at Gordon Tech. I guess the Secret Service figured Tom knew his way around because he had attended high school there and he already had a high level security clearance.

Anyway, Tom is an interesting guy to talk to as he knows a lot of military history and a lot about the Indianapolis. Like before the mission the Indianapolis was refitted with armor being removed to make her faster. Also, it should have been standard for her to have a destroyer escort but they wanted the mission to be as stealthy/low key as possible so they sent her alone. It's a sad story about the commander and his court martial. I think the guy committed suicide with a toy sailor in his hand.

and no distress signal....

Forget Brando, Hanks, Deniro, Nicholson, and the rest of them.

The greatest acting ever in a movie was Robert Shaw in Jaws.

:lol: "Sex angle"

Hey, time for another bragging story. It's a Robert Shaw story.
In 1975 I was in the Shrimp Bucket in Puerto Vallarta having dinner and a bucket of beer when a guy offered me and my fishing buddy jobs as extras in "The Swashbuckler". One of the worst big budget movies of it's time.
Robert Shaw was star of the picture. He was drunk every day. All day and clearly had contempt for the movie itself. He was also very funny.
James Goldstone, the director, was constantly snorting coke. Avery Schreiber was drunk on 'Commemorativo' every day. Sex angle was Genevieve Bujold but I never saw here.
Only normal person I met was Beau Bridges. James Earl Jones was in the movie but I never saw him either.
I got $12 a day and lunch. In the beginning of the movie I am simultaneously firing a cannon at the British from the Blarney Cock, our pirate ship,while I am also a British soldier on land getting shelled.
Good times.

JORR'S Tommy Shaw story is better.