Name: Carroll Lansing GOVE
Rank / Rating: S2-Seaman Second Class
Service #: 868 64 75
DOB: Mar 05, 1924
From: Randolph, WI
Parents: George Gove
Went Aboard: Oct 31, 1943
Age When Ship Went Down: 21 years, 4 months, 25 days
Spouse: Madeline Gove
Children: Judy Gove Robbins
Grandchildren:
Bio Submitted By: Judy Gove Robbins
Date Posted:

I am Judy Gove Robbins, daughter of Carroll L Gove, Seaman Second Class. I never fully realized what it was like not having a Dad growing up. I was only 18 months old when the USS Indianapolis sunk. My father was only 21 years old at that time. He was the second oldest of 13 children. His Dad, George Gove, was a World War I veteran. George was very upset not knowing what happened to the ship. The Gove Family found out the ship was lost before official word was given. A cousin of theirs worked in the pacific as a radioman and somehow got word to the family that the Indy was lost. George contacted Wisconsin survivors and the state department trying to find out what happened. My family believed the newspaper accounts of the tragedy and blamed the Captain for not zig zagging. Why else would the navy court martial him if he wasn't guilty?

After my mother was widowed at the age of 20, we moved in with my maternal grand parents. In those days, families took care of each other. There was no social services or food stamps. Even though my grandparents were struggling farmers with five children, they took us in to live with them. My mother was beneficiary of $5,000 from the National Life Insurance ACT of 1940, which was divided out in monthly payments of $27.75. She received a widow's pension of $300 a month, which stopped when she remarried. For some reason, my mother was not told to apply for social security benefits for me. I remember going to Beaver Dam to a veterans office. I was only eight years old, but I felt as though they were keeping something from us. It seemed to be a feather in their hat or money for their office if they were able to keep the benefits down. I was in the eighth grade when it was discovered that my mother was not getting social security for me. The government would only pay two years back pay. So we lost about ten years, of social security benefits. But, as, I said before, back then families took care of each other. My memories of my childhood are around my grandparents and my mother's brothers and sisters. I grew up without a Dad but still had a loving family. I was the only grandchild for seven years. When I was ten years old my mother remarried. We then moved to Fall River, which is about six miles from the farm. It was real hard to leave the farm, which was my home from 18 months to ten years of age. I went "home", back to the farm, just about every weekend on the Fall River school bus. I tell myself I had the best of two families, my aunts and uncles, and my mother's new family Madeline, ]udy, and Carroll Gove, with two half brothers and two half sisters. Sometimes I felt I didn't fit in either one. I was too young to be my grandparent's child, and too old to fit in with my mother's new family. It was especially evident when it came to taking family pictures. "Well, Judy you can get in the picture with us". I can remember times when I was embarrassed because I didn't have a Dad. We are talking about the late forties and early fifties. I can't remember any other person in my class of 25 having a single parent or stepfather. I would have to explain to the teacher that my mother was my guardian and I wasn't adopted and she would sign my necessary papers. I knew my Dad died on the Indy but I didn't really find out about all the details until I was married and had children of my own. The first Indy reunion I went to was the 50th. That was a memorable time in my life. The first night people were able to ask if anyone present knew of their loved one. I went to the microphone thinking I was setting myself up for failure. There were only about 80 survivors present, no one would know Carroll Gove from Randolph, Wisconsin, but I had to try. After I asked if anyone knew my dad, a young man approached me and told me that his, dad knew my Dad and wanted to talk to me. The survivor was Donald McCall from Champaign, Illinois. He told me he was a good friend of my Dad and that they even played in a band together. They were two poor sailors from the Midwest. He also told me he figured Carroll went down with the ship. They got off duty at midnight. My dad bunked down below, but Don put a blanket on the deck earlier in the day and slept topside. The ship was close to the equator and in July the night was unbearably hot. I have always been amazed that when the torpedo hit at 12:12, it only took 14 minutes for the big cruiser to sink. At first I was relieved that he went down with the ship and wasn't in the water for five days and eaten by sharks, until I read on the internet a story from a survivor. He told of the cries and screams of the men still on the ship that were trapped below. Since I met Don in 1995, he has been like a father to me. He treats me like someone special in his life. He sure is someone special in my life. I haven't missed a reunion since meeting him, just so I can see him again. I have spent a lot of time researching the ship and the people that served on it. One interesting story I found was that my cousin's father-in-law served on the Indy. His name was Charles Ferriter. He was a commanding officer until February of 1945. When I sent for my Dad's military records he signed the reviews. He also wrote several manuals, one about serving on the Indy. He told how Capt. McVay was a light sleeper. His sleeping quarters were located directly below the Radio Shack on the Indy. He had marine guards placed at all entrances to the Radio Shack deck to ensure that anyone entering at night removed their shoes and went stocking footed or wore sneakers. Charles also left pictures that were Navy restricted. I have copies of them. I'm glad that Captain McVay finally got exonerated and the true story finally came out. I can remember my mother telling that Carroll liked the captain and thought he was fair with people. My hope is that some how his military record could be corrected. My life would have been different if the Navy would have sent an escort with the ship in dangerous waters like they did every other ship during the war that didn't have sonar devices. I'm just one person out of many whose life has been affected by war. My Dad is my hero in life. He died so I can have the freedoms I enjoy today. There isn't a time when I face the flag to sing the Star Spangled Banner that I don't think about him and thank him for the sacrifice that he made.