[Annotator's Note: The interview video skips a bit in the beginning.] Richard Thelen was born in March 1927 and grew up in Lansing, Michigan. His father delivered coal in the winter and pulled coal from the mines in the summer. His father then went to work for General Motors in 1940. Thelen had a paper route and had an ordinary childhood. On Sunday, 7 December 1941, he went to the corner drugstore to get some ice cream for the family when he heard people talking about going to war. When he got back to his house, he and his parents listened to the radio about how the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. Thelen joined the Navy because he did not want to be drafted into the Army. In January 1944, at 17 years old, He was sent to the Great Lakes [Annotator's Note: Naval Training Center Great Lakes, Great Lakes, Illinois]. He remembered boot camp was just a time to get familiar with the military service. He had a seven day leave after boot camp and then was sent to Shoemaker, California [Annotator's Note: Camp Shoemaker in Dublin, California]. The company of men he was with were told to stand in a straight line in alphabetical order and count of "one," "two," "one," "two." Those who counted off "two," were assigned to the USS Indianapolis (CA-35). Thelen went to Mare Island [Annotator's Note: Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California] to meet his ship at a dry dock. While the ship was being repaired, he was sent to gunnery school and firefighting school. Then he went to Hunters Point, San Francisco [Annotator's Note: Hunters Point, San Francisco, California] to meet the ship in the water. He was assigned to the 20mm guns. He remembered seeing a big crate being guarded on the ship. Later, he found out that it was an atomic bomb. They landed on Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands] and the crate was unloaded and then they headed to Guam. They fueled up and got some supplies, then the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) headed to Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines] to join the 7th Fleet for the invasion of Japan.

Richard Thelen remembered that it was too hot to sleep below deck, so he began to sleep topside. One night he told his friend to wake him up when it was time for his watch duty and while he slept, a torpedo struck the USS Indianapolis (CA-35). Thelen woke up as he was flying through the air and landed on the other side of the ship. Another torpedo hit amid-ship and he recalled the ship really began to rumble. A group of the sailors cut down life rafts and threw them overboard. Thelen grabbed a life jacket and the ship just disappeared underwater and he swam away. He recalled thinking at the time that he could not believe this was happening. With the combination of seawater and diesel fuel getting into his mouth he threw up. As Thelen was floating in the water with about 70 or 80 men, they were wondering when their rescue team would arrive. As time went on, some of the men began to perish due to burn wounds [Annotator's Note: there is the sound of a garbage truck in the background 0:20:04.000] and the reactions to drinking salt water. After a few days, Thelen says that sharks would come around and anyone that floated off would be taken by a shark. When rescue finally came, a raft was dropped into the water, Thelen and three men swam for it. He was the only one that made it to the raft because the three other men died in the process of getting there. He was too weak to get on the raft, so he just tied a rope around himself and the raft and floated until he could get help. He remembered that at times he wanted to give up, but he stayed alive because he had promised his father that he would return home. There were times too when the sailors thought that the Navy had given up the search for them.

One morning, Richard Thelen saw a plane fly over him and he knew that he was about to be rescued [Annotator's Note: USS Indianapolis (CA-35)] after surviving the sinking of the USS Indianapolis (CA-35)]. Later that evening, five ships came by to rescue the survivors. Thelen was rescued by the USS Doyle [Annotator's Note: USS Cecil J. Doyle (DE-368)] with 96 other survivors. When the survivors were interrogated about what happened, no one believed how long they had survived in the water. When he first got on the USS Doyle, he was given a shot of alcohol. He was told that it would get his heart pumping good again. They then gave him some broth, juice, and coffee. They gave him a shower and then let him rest in one of the bunks. The USS Doyle brought Thelen to Peleliu [Annotator's Note: Peleliu, Palau] for a few days and then he was sent to Guam [Annotator's Notes: Guam, Mariana Islands] via hospital ship. Thelen was dehydrated and malnourished when he was rescued and he could not walk. He stayed in a hospital on Guam for a few weeks and received a lot of rest and food. The war ended while he was recuperating. Thelen and his shipmates realized then that the mysterious crate that had boarded their ship at the beginning of their voyage was an atomic bomb that was dropped on Japan.

When Richard Thelen returned home, he served at the Grosse Ile Naval Air Station outside of Detroit [Annotator's Note: Detroit, Michigan]. He was discharged in August 1946 at Great Lakes [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Great Lakes, Great Lakes, Illinois]. When he got out of service, he finished high school. He made a living driving a truck. He believed the war changed him because it made him consider other people. He believes it is important to have The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana]. When he talks to school kids he tells them to never give up in the face of a problem.