I want to share an amazing program we had at the Brandon Twp. Library this week, "Surviving the USS Indianapolis." Dick Thelen was 18 years old when he was in the Navy, aboard the USS Indianapolis, when they delivered parts of the Atomic Bomb, which was a secret mission that the sailors on board did not even know they were carrying. After it was delivered, on the return trip, the ship was torpedoed and sunk in a matter of 12 minutes. Over 900 men were alive when the ship went down, but over the next 4.5 days in the shark infested water, so many died from shark attacks, dehydration, delirium, that only 317 survived. No one was looking for them, and it is a miracle how they were rescued. Dick is one of the few remaining survivors that is alive today, and is 92 years old. We were blessed and honored to have him at our library. Larry Martin is the contact for this event. He is a history buff, who was done a lot of research and interviews with a variety of amazing people. He did an excellent interview with Dick and has it on DVD. It is about an hour long. We had a packed room, and everyone was riveted during the entire DVD presentation. Afterward, Dick and Larry fielded questions for about 30 minutes. It was wonderful to have them both available for questions, which were many. Larry also brought along a lot of WW II memorabilia for people to look at. We had this presentation from 2-3:30 pm on a Tuesday, and our room was packed with close to 100 people. People of all ages attended, including many homeschooling families. It was a very moving presentation, and a piece of history that needs to be shared. I have been in charge of adult programming for the past year at the Brandon Library, and this by far, has been one of the most talked about and well attended events. I have attached some pictures as well. Many people stayed after to get their pictures taken with Dick, and also Irene Hosking, who had been an Army Nurse during WW II. She is now 101 years old. Larry Martin's website is lmww2.com He has a huge list of people that he has interviewed over the years, and has all of the interviews on DVD that can also be shown at our libraries. Larry can be contacted through his website or reached at 517-783-0761 or emailed at batt.chief@yahoo.com. I highly recommend this program! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thank you! -- Robin Loughlin Library Associate Brandon Twp Public Library 304 South Street <https://maps.google.com/?q=304+South+Street&entry=gmail&source=g> Ortonville MI 48462 248-627-1462 *ENGAGE **•** EDUCATE **•** ENRICH **•* * EMPOWER*
