Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis

by Pete Nelson

Book Overview

For fans of sea battles, adventures, and war stories like Unbroken, this is the incredible true story of a boy who helps to bring closure to the survivors of the tragic sinking of the USS Indianapolis, and helps exonerate the ship's captain fifty years later.

Hunter Scott first learned about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis by watching the movie Jaws when he was just eleven-years-old. This was fifty years after...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385730918
• ISBN13: 9780385730914
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 201 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Excellent Book

This book, packed with action, history, and knowledge, is a really fun read. Many aspects of this book excited me. One aspect was it was a true story. This book is not only a detailed account of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis on July 30, 1945 from many different people and perspectives, but it also shows you why and how the ship sunk. The events of the minutes, hours, and days after the sinking are very vivid and detailed, primarily because the book was founded from interviews with survivors. This created a 1st hand look at the sinking, and shed light on things that would have otherwise been lost in history. The amazing survival stories of the stranded sailors left for weeks on the ocean, attacked by sharks, fighting off starvation, and succumbing to insanity, just raises your awareness about how dangerous war really was, even back then. This is a key fact about this book that makes it so good. The next part of the book deals with the aftermath of the sinking, including the controversial court-martial of the Captain of the USS Indianapolis (Captain Charles Butler McVay). This section sheds light on the facts about the court-martial, and the opinions of many historians, veterans, and survivors of the USS Indianapolis. After reading both sides of the argument, you might be surprised at the evidence that you find when reading this book. I know by the time I was done with the book, my opinion about the trail defiantly changed. The end of this book, interestingly enough, focuses on an eleven year old kid name Hunter Scott. As the book rapidly jumps to the 1940's to the 1990's, the author tells about the heroic efforts of sixth grader Hunter Scott to clear Captain McVay's name of blame for the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Although McVay had commited suicide more than 30 years ago, many survivers of the Indianapolis are still outraged that McVay was blamed with the sinking. Many of them tried to fight to clear his name in the past, but it ultimately came down to an sixth grader. At the end, it tells of the success of Hunter Scott in convincing the government to reopen the trial and review that facts again. By the end of the book, and currently in the National Archives, McVay was clear of any blame for the loss of his ship. Overall, this book is an excellent read. It keeps your eyes glued to the page wondering what will happen next, even though it already happened in history.

Left for Dead- A must read

The USS Indianapolis. If this name doesn't sound familiar to you...then you might want to consider reading Left for Dead. Left for Dead is a Book based on a true story about Hunter Scott, a Florida Schoolboy who did a History Fair project on the USS Indianapolis. This doesn't really sound significant at first, but the book tells you the history of the ship. The ship was piloted by Captain Charles Mcvay III. It was a cruiser ship, and one of the fastest in the navy. The Ship was always considered lucky, until it was severely damaged by a kamikaze plane. The ship luck ran out, it got torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sank. The captain was court-martialed (brought to military court) and he was the one held responsible for the ship sinking. There were quite a few injustices. It was not the captain's fault the ship sunk, and the navy ignored the SOS signal. The navy also even had the audacity to bring in the sub captain that sank the ship, and purposely translated incorrectly what he said to defend the navy. Hunter Scott then found out all about this. His project got National attention and him along with the survivors cleared Mcvay's good name. That is only a very brief summary of the book. The book has lots of neat things in it that kept my attention while I read this incredible story. It gave explicit detail of the sinking, trials etc. Form some of the survivors' points of view. In the book was also the story of how and why Hunter Scott chose the Indianapolis as his History Fair project. The book also has some pages (about 20) of Hunter Scott with the survivors with the survivors, pictures of the survivors during WWII, a picture of the Japanese submarine captain, a map of the area near where it sunk and even a picture of the ship. History isn't the only thing in this book that caught my eye. There was a lot of interesting scientific information that really wowed me (this is coming from a kid not too interested in science.) All sorts of stuff was in the book about trauma, the nervous system and psychic injury. It was very interesting stuff, and it explained to me a lot of things about flashbacks. The Stuff about the dreams relating to reality fascinated me to. These along with other scientific facts explained why the sailors had flashbacks and bad dreams about the sinking, there was also some very interesting stuff about how things like Sun damage and exposure killed sailors who weren't killed by sharks. This book incorporated all of this stuff and makes it Interesting and entertaining. If I read about stuff like this in a history textbook, or if it were like stuff you'd find in a history book, I would probably be so bored to death I'd fall asleep and when I woke up I'd want to burn it. The science stuff was also made very interesting as well, and was also explained in a way that didn't boggle my mind or keep me up all night with my eyes wide open trying to figure out what all of it meant. I know I'm only 14, bu

An excellent read!

I enjoyed this book and intend to recommend for purchase in my local high school library where I work. We need more high interest, lower reading level books to interest our young men. This will do it! Also, here's a true hero; someone who saw a "wrong" and worked to "right" it.

Momentous, inspirational novel for teens and adults

I started reading this book as a project example for students. I couldn't put it down - and I normally do not read non-fiction. I found this book inspriring not only for the patriotism of the men of the USS Indianapolis but also for the fortitude and courage of a young boy to see his project through. In a time of waning interest in community service among teens, I think this book is a momentous motivational tool for students. It illustrates that, yes, "kids" have power and, yes, dreams come true and goals are attainable. I think this is a must read for students who need motivation or encouragement through tough times. Also, the story of the Indianapolis is important because many students do not have grandfathers or uncles to share the experiences of war with them. It teaches lessons such as loyalty, patriotism, justice, faith and perserverence in the face of adversity. These are lessons beneficial to today's young people.

A Tragic Injustice Finally Corrected

Captain Charles Butler McVay, skipper of the USS Indianapolis, was court-martialed after the tragic sinking of his ship on July 30, 1945. Despite the objections from Admiral Nimitz, Admiral Ernest J. King, chief of U.S. Naval Operations, insisted that the court martial proceed. What occurred was one of the most incredible cases of injustice in U.S. Naval history. McVay was convicted for failure to steer in a zigzag pattern. This manuver is supposed to make a ship more difficult to hit in case of a torpedo attack, although this theory was completely disproved during the trial. The Japanese captain of the submarine which sunk the Indy was brought in to testify against McVay. It was his opinion that he still would have sunk the Indy regardless of the zigzagging. Another charge of failing to order abandon ship in a timely fashion was overturned. The survivors of the Indianapolis always felt that their captain was used as a scapegoat by the Navy to cover up their own mistakes, and they have spent years trying to clear their beloved captain's name.In 1996, a young boy named Hunter Scott was watching the movie Jaws. One of the characters in the film portrayed a survivor from the Indianapolis. After seeing the film, Hunter became more interested in the story of the Indy. He used its story as a theme for a history project he was working on. This 11-year old boy did the unthinkable. He made it his goal to clear McVay's name. He sent out numerous questionnaires to survivors and conducted personal interviews as well. Newspapers picked up on Hunter's crusade and soon the whole country was aware of his efforts. Appearances followed on Late Night with David Letterman as well as trips to Capitol Hill to lobby members of Congress. A meeting with the Senate Armed Services Committee took place on September 14, 1999. Hunter, with the help of Senator Bob Smith, told the tale of the Indianapolis and her survivors to the committee. By the time they were finished, they had swayed Senator John Warner, chairman of the committee. He now felt that McVay should be exonerated. The Senate resolution passed in October of 2000, but on July 11, 2001, Hunter received the news that McVay had been exonerated.Author Pete Nelson does a fine job of telling the story of the Indianapolis, her sinking, the struggle for survival, and the exoneration. I've read numerous books about the saga of the Indianapolis, but this is the first one I've read that explains the efforts of Hunter Scott. This is a truly moving book. We are lucky to have people such as Hunter Scott, who sacrificed so much for a person he never even met.