In the closing months of World War II (July 1945), the USS Indianapolis completed a top-secret mission to the island of Tinian in the Pacific Ocean to deliver uranium and other vital components for the nation’s first nuclear weapon, “Little Boy.” The “Indy” as it was fondly called by its crew, was a US Navy heavy cruiser that participated in multiple World War II combat campaigns, acquiring 10 battle stars for its distinguished service.
Petty Officer 2C Eugene W. Rudomanski, of 103 Duke St., Kearny, was a 19-year-old sailor serving as a radio technician aboard the ship after Navy enlistment in August 1943 in New York City. “Rudy,” as he was known to his friends, had graduated Kearny High School in June 1942 and aspired to become a physician after the war, like his uncle.
Rutgers-Newark University accepted him in their pre-med program and he committed to preserving a seat until his naval service concluded. Rudy’s father, William, was a carpenter who had immigrated from Poland, and he had two younger sisters, Victoria and Wanda.
His uncle was Dr. Victor Rudomanski, a beloved Kearny pediatrician who provided care for countless children from the West Hudson area from 1948 to 1983 (35 years of practice).
On the Indy’s return to the Philippine Islands after its critical delivery, a Japanese submarine intercepted it in the early hours of July 30, 1945, and hit it with two torpedoes. The combined blasts lifted the vessel out of the water, destroyed the bow and nearly sliced the ship in half. From the moment of impact to the disappearance of the warship beneath the waves entirely just after midnight, less than 12 minutes elapsed. Of the 1,195 crew members aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship, with the remaining 900 cast into the ocean, with many injured or burned, and quickly coated in fuel oil.
Only about half had either a life vest or an inflatable life belt.
As the Indy had been sailing alone without destroyer escort, the Navy failed to detect its loss for four days. The survivors in the ocean, with little food or water, eventually stretched over a large area, forming into four distinct groups, separated by up to eight miles. For those few agonizing and endless days, these sailors confronted a truly horrific ordeal, struggling against exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning and relentless shark attacks.
After a few days of drifting without rescue, some even took their own lives by departing shipmates and swimming off into the open water.
On Aug. 2, 1945, the alert crew of a Navy PV-1 Lockheed Ventura aircraft on a routine flight patrol spotted men adrift, which they immediately reported. By the time the Navy mobilized and executed a rescue mission, only 316 survivors were pulled from the water. Some had drifted over 100 miles from the ship’s sinking to the point of eventual rescue.
The loss of 879 men from the USS Indianapolis remains the greatest single loss of life at sea in the history of the US Navy. The tragedy was also immortalized in the unforgettable monologue by Quint (the late actor Robert Shaw) in the 1975 movie blockbuster classic, “Jaws,” that premiered 50 years ago this summer.
What happened to Rudy?
According to a letter from the surviving ship’s commanding officer, Capt. Charles B. McVay III, in October 1945 in response to a heartbreaking letter from Rudy’s mother, Mary, while the exact manner which he died was not known, it was believed Rudy went down with the ship immediately after the attack.
If he was on duty in the forward radio shack as family thought, Rudy was in the blast radius of the first torpedo and would likely have died instantly. Capt. McVay closed the letter by emphasizing Rudy “… had done his part in the teamwork which made the Indianapolis an efficient fighting unit of the fleet.”
Given a future filled with such potential, Rudy’s loss was widely mourned by family, former KHS classmates and friends alike. He was unquestionably another of this nation’s “greatest generation.” Petty Officer 2C Eugene W. Rudomanski, USN, is honored among the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippine Islands and his name is also listed on Kearny’s World War II Memorial.
At this 80-year anniversary of the USS Indianapolis tragedy, may God bless Rudy for his service and selfless sacrifice.
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