May 9, 2021 / 10:47 AM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Two of the seven remaining survivors of the USS Indianapolis sinking in 1945 died last week, according to the group’s Facebook page.
Edgar Harrell died Saturday and James W. Smith died Wednesday. The men were age 96.
The USS Indianapolis heavy cruiser in a top-secret mission during World War II delivered to the island of Tinian some of the parts for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. While in route to the Philippines after delivering the parts, the cruiser was torpedoed in the early-morning hours of July 30, 1945, by the Imperial Japanese navy submarine I-58 and sank in 12 minutes. The ship carried nearly 1,200 men; only 316 survived.