The Writer's Connection, SM
a publication of The Virtual Writing Coach SM


"The Creative Process of Writing is a Liberating and Therapeutic Experience"

www.virtualwritingcoach.com

July, 2009

In This Issue:

1. Preview
2. Publisher's Note
3. The USS Indianapolis
4. Helpful Hints

1. Preview

The Writer's Connection explores the creative process of writing and the interplay between thoughts, feelings, and actions. We are an interactive community of authors and readers who share ideas to enhance our knowledge, skills, and experiences in writing fiction in any genre, but our emphasis remains mystery and suspense thrillers.
Published monthly, the Newsletter offers writing tips for authors, coaching suggestions, editing, and marketing information.

Topics are presented from the perspective of Keith Barton and represent only his ideas on producing your first manuscript, and are provided to the general public. Because we are an interactive community of writers, other viewpoints are welcomed and may be printed in future monthly newsletters with permission from Keith Barton.

2. Publisher's Note

July, 2009

Dear Writer's Connection Subscriber,

This month features the naval coverup of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945 six days before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

3. Book review: The Uss Indianapolis


Everyone remembers the Enola Gay’s flight over Japan and dropping the bomb on Hiroshima that led to Japan’s ultimate defeat to end WW II. What you may not remember is how the bomb was transported to the island of Oahu under a cloud of secrecy that was unknown even to the Captain of the USS Indianapolis. The events that transpired the last two weeks of July, 1945 will forever be etched in the minds of the families whose fathers and brothers were forgotten at sea after a Japanese class sub sunk the Indy on July 30, 1945 and the harrowing experience of 317 men left in the south China sea near the Marianas Islands for five days before their ultimate rescue. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Captain Charles Butler McVay III graduated from the Naval Academy in 1932, his father an Admiral in WW I. He was taciturn and rule - bound, but duty always beckoned him to put country before family and self. Our story begins in San Francisco on July 15, 1945 with a strange cargo in black box that was guarded by 32 marines on board the Indy. The crew was unaware of its contents that would later become part of “fat boy” who killed 160,000 Japanese on August 6, 1945 with the first atomic bomb dropped on a civilian population. The Indy was a cruiser built in 1945 to celebrate FDR’s birth place, Indianapolis, In. The ship’s course would take it from San Francisco, to Oahu and then to Tinian and Guam where it was set to sail to Leyte, Philippines to continue to fight the Japanese after it left its precious cargo on Tinian where the B - 29 Enola Gay would fly to Hiroshima to drop the bomb that would end WW II. But the 900 crew members of the Indy would never see the end of WW II. Three hundred were immediately incinerated when a Japanese torpedo crashed into Indy’s forward section. The Indy sank in 12 minutes without the required number of lifeboats and vests to keep them from drowning in the oil slick waters four miles above the ocean floor. Six hundred sailors and officers drowned from dehydration, drinking salt water or being torn apart by sharks that nibbled on them for four days. Half - torsos in life preservers bobbed in the 110 degree heat; other sailors were plucked from their vests by hungry sharks like ping pong balls.

Captain McVay survived to learn that his fate was a court marshal for not “zigzagging” in enemy waters and failure to abandon ship earlier than the 12 minutes it took the ship to sink. He was able to keep his rank and a desk job until his retirement in 1949 but 19 years later put a 45 caliber bullet through his head because he could no longer live with the nightmares of that fateful night of July 30, 1945. The Navy blamed one man for the loss of the Indy, despite the fact that SOS messages were ignored in Leyte, the docking roster never listed the Indy four days late, and no destroyers accompanied the Indy into enemy waters, against naval protocol. The Captain was later exonerated in 2001 through the efforts of the Indy survivors, all now in their 80s who still meet in Indianapolis for a bitter sweet reunion.

Doug Stanton’s book, In Harm’s Way, tells this remarkable story from the vantage points of the ship’s doctor, LCDR Lewis Haynes, marine Sgt. Giles McCoy, and Capt. McVay. The Indy tragedy is of course the loss of 900 lives at sea, but the larger tragedy is the U.S. Department of Navy’s attempt to cover up their own ineptitude and pin the blame on the Captain McVay who lived the horror along with his 316 surviving shipmates long after the Indy sank in the warm waters in the South China Sea. For naval historians, Stanton’s book is superb in its vivid narratives from three points of view, but all with the same dis - heartening conclusion of the men who sacrificed their lives needlessly for a cause they knew not. Captain McVay’s eerie prophecy was that his ship would go down without getting an SOS off. What will happen then? (his own words before the sinking).

Helpful Hints:

1. Narrative non - fiction has the unique advantage of putting the reader in the scene; what other books have you read that mirror this same literary approach and how entertaining did you find the stories?

2. Most books are from one point of view; multiple points of view allows the reader to get inside the minds of those recalling the events from their POV. Ultimately for the USS Indy there were 1200 POV; sadly only 317 remained.

3. Pick a time in your life when you suffered a surprising setback. How do you remember it years later and do others who shared this event remember it in the same way?


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Contact Information

Keith Barton, Ph.D.
Voice: 281 - 583 - 5005
Fax: 281.583 - 5008
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(c) Copyright 2003 A. Keith Barton, Ph.D.
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The Writer's Connection SM Mission:

The Writer's Connection SM is dedicated to helping first - time authors create their first manuscript for publication and to offer an exchange of ideas and opinions from our readers who might be interested in becoming authors.

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Archives

You can read previous issues of The Writer's Connection SM in our archive section which is located at the top right section of this page.

About Keith Barton, Ph.D.

Dr. Barton received his Ph.D. in 1972 from the University of Texas at Austin and has been a practicing therapist for over thirty years. He is currently enrolled in MentorCoach and is accepting new clients. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina, consultant to Fortune 500 companies in executive development, founded and managed Texas Community Living Ventures, Inc., in 1986 for providing group home services to persons with mental retardation, and for the past 13 years founded and runs a clinical practice in Northwest Houston. He writes part - time with the goal of completing one novel a year. His desire to coach others derives from his passionate interest in helping others become attuned to their creative powers of storytelling.

Dr. Barton has training in coaching, cognitive and family therapy and health psychology. He has published articles, made presentations and conducted workshops about:

Anxiety and achievement
Stress management
Self - esteem
Communication skills
Marital/relationship enrichment
Wellness issues
The relationship between psychology and spirituality

Copyright by Virtual Writing Coach (SM) and Keith Barton, 2001 - 2008.