Hi all,

We had Larry Martin come and do a program about the USS Indianapolis last Tuesday night. It was excellent! We've never had a larger crowd. Some people had to turn around and leave due to crowd size, and we are a small library.  Larry brought along one of the few remaining survivors of the USS Indianapolis. His name is Dick Thelen from Lansing MI.  Below is a link for the 

A few notes about how I put this event on. We asked our local American Legion if they could help with the cost. They brought over a check for the entire amount that same day. I called and messaged all of the local American Legion posts and asked them to share the event. They did just that, and one of the Auxillary ladies from Grand Rapids even came down for the event. We also used Facebook to promote it, and that reached many people. 

Larry Martin's website is https://lmww2.com/ He can be reached by using the contact form on his site. He is very prompt with his response. 

Here's a link to the news segment our local station did. 

https://wwmt.com/news/local/on-74th-anniversary-of-sinking-uss-indianapolis-survivor-tells-his-story-at-colon-library?fbclid=IwAR1vR5GI6heulMwVF18PQ-qWnstKjwoamHV-BcaehNdiV1ErE8xjWzwDbfQ

On 74th anniversary of sinking, USS Indianapolis survivor tells his story at Colon Library wwmt.com The Colon Library was standing room only July 30, 2019, as everyone gathered to hear the harrowing tale of what it was like to be aboard the USS Indianapolis when it was sunk in World War II. In July, 1945, Dick Thelen of Lansing was an 18-year-old sailor aboard American cruiser on his first mission with the U. S. Navy, when he was forced into shark-infested waters with 900 other sailors. "I am real lucky. It’s unbelievable how lucky I am," Thelen said. Only 316 men survived.Julie Censke