The city of Benicia will pay tribute to one of its own, an unintended war hero, whose story is equal parts remarkable and unimaginable to most.
Harold Bray, 96, endured days and nights of terror on the open sea, witnessing the tragic deaths of hundreds of his fellow shipmates.
While en route to join a Task Force, the Indianapolis fell victim to a Japanese submarine attack, causing the ship and its crew of 1,195 sailors to sink. Approximately 300 people went down with the ship, while nearly 900 others found themselves fighting for their lives, desperately clinging to floating debris.
"The sharks were there. I was bumped a couple times, but, they weren't hungry at the time I guess. There was 18 of us in the group. We stayed together pretty much. Of course guys died every day. By the time we got picked up there was just only two or three of us left," recalled Bray."It was cold. Even in the daytime it never warmed up much," said Bray. Of the 900 that went in to Pacific, only 316 were rescued, including 17-year-old Bray.
"You had to be young and strong to survive what we went through in the water. I was one of the youngest, so that's part of it," Bray explained.Bray said he often thinks about his fallen shipmates.
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