Marines Die !
Marine Detachments aboard US Navy capital ships has been a tradition since the founding of the US Navy in the
Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Marines are the armed "muscle" of the ship's boarding party should it be necessary
to board an enemy vessel. They are also the spearhead of the ship's landing party - the first ashore - the first to fight -
and most often - the first to die.
Marines work and live side by side with the sailors of the Ship's Company. They operate the ship's brig and
man many of the ship's weapons systems. Sailors and Marines literally fight and die together. It was no less true aboard the
Indianapolis. There were 39 marines aboard when she went down.
Of the 39, only 9 survived the Indianapolis sinking and the subsequent ordeal. Captain McVay recommended the Navy Cross,
(posthumously), for Captain Edward L. Parke, USMC, the Commanding Officer of the Indianapolis' Marine Detachment. Writing of
Captain Parke, Captain McVay's recommendation read in part,"... For extraordinary heroism in rescuing and organizing a large
group of men following the sinking of the USS INDIANAPOLIS... Finally collapsing himself from exhaustion. His unselfish
conduct in the face of the greatest personal danger was outstanding and in keeping with the highest tradition of the United States
Naval Service and the Marine Corps."
United States Marine Corps
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©Donald E. Bruner 04-2002