Josh Roe from NewsChannel 9 in Chattanooga, Tennessee talks to Louis “Kayo” Erwin in 2016.
(Mr. Erwin passed away in June 2018)
Mr. Erwin tells his story of surviving the deadliest shark attack ever, and the worst Naval disaster in history. The sinking of the USS Indianapolis.
Kayo Erwin was 17 years old in 1942.
He had an older brother fighting in World War II. Kayo joined the Navy to go find his brother.
“I was at Tarawa, the Marshalls, The Marianas, The Gilberts, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Iwo Jima, and in Okinawa we was hit with a suicide plane,” Kayo Erwin said. “Killed nine men. Wounded thirty-eight.”
He was in the Navy on the USS Indianapolis.
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You thought you have been through some shit in life, then you listen to what this guy lived through. Floating in the freezing, shark infested ocean for 4 days, while you listen to and see 600 of your friends get eaten alive, not knowing if you were going to be rescued at all, or eaten next.
Kinda makes you thankful for the minuscule problems you are dealing with in your own life.
"Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin’ by, so we formed ourselves into tight groups. It was sorta like you see in the calendars, you know the infantry squares in the old calendars like the Battle of Waterloo and the idea was the shark come to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin’ and hollerin’ and sometimes that shark he go away… but sometimes he wouldn’t go away.
Sometimes that shark looks right at ya. Right into your eyes. And the thing about a shark is he’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes. When he comes at ya, he doesn’t even seem to be livin’… ’til he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then… ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’. The ocean turns red, and despite all your poundin’ and your hollerin’ those sharks come in and… they rip you to pieces."
I knew a man that survived this, his telling of the tale was riveting. It was a horrible and life changing experience.