INDIANAPOLIS — Just two survivors of the torpedo attack on the USS Indianapolis remain after the passing of one of their crewmates.
(NOTE: The video in the player above is from a 2018 story on the 73rd anniversary of the attack.)
Granville Crane, one of the youngest crew members on the USS Indianapolis during World War II, and one of just three living survivors of the attack on the ship more than 76 years ago, has died.
The official USS Indianapolis Facebook page announced Crane's passing Thursday, saying he died Wednesday evening. He was 95.
According to the Facebook post, Crane reported for duty in April 1943 at the age of 16 and served in eight of the USS Indianapolis' "thriller battles" as he called them.
The USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese Navy submarine in July 1945. Around 300 people went down with the ship. The remaining 890 faced dehydration and shark attacks while stranded out in the ocean.
Crane later said while he floated at sea following the attack, he relied on his faith, "praying aloud constantly, but making no bargains with God." When he returned home, Crane became a pastor and served the church for six decades, the Facebook post about his death noted.
According to the USS Indianapolis website, Harold Bray Jr. and Cleatus Lebow are the two living survivors of the attack.