Waters, Jack Lee

956 Emerson St.,
Denver 3, Colo.
Sept. 5, 1945

Dear Captain McVey-

My husband is Jack L. Waters, senior yeoman in your office while on the Indianapolis.
Could you please give me any details concerning him, if he is dead. I know questions can't help but it would be such comfort to me to know how it happened-if he was hurt so that he couldn't get off the ship.
I know you are busy & have letters like this by the dozens but since I know that you know my husband please help me.
Just to know the circumstances surrounding him-so I could quit the eternal wondering - or if in some way I could get the names of any of the survivors who knew my husband so I could write them-
Thank you very much for any help you can give me.

Sincerely
Mrs. J. L. Waters

Pers-8249-LK
WATERS, Jack L., CY (AA)(T), USN, 372 21 12

October 29, 1945

My dear Mrs. Waters,

Your letter of September 5th concerning your husband, Jack L. Waters, Chief Yeoman, United States Navy, has just reached me here in the Bureau of Naval Personnel where I have been on temporary duty since my return from Guam the middle of last month.

I regret that I can add nothing to my letter of September 28th, which I trust reached you after your letter to me was written.

It is difficult I know for your to understand why we can not furnish more information. However, when it is realized the ship sank in the middle of the night in a very short time and that no records whatsoever were saved that my explain our difficulty in piecing together a coherent story.

As my chief Yeoman, your husband was well known to me and I thought most highly of him. He was a fine shipmate as well as an efficient administrator and I leaned on him heavily to run my office. The Navy suffered a great loss in his passing.

May I again express my heartfelt sympathy,

Very sincerely,

CHAS. B. McVAY, III
Captain, U. S. Navy

July 14 - 45

Dear Chaplin-
I received word that Jack L. Waters was missing July 30th. Will you please give me some information about him and ship if you can. You know it is almost more than I can take. If I only could get some information it would help me. Praying I can hear from you soon. Many many thanks to you. His mother.
Mrs. B.D. Carey
2321 Warren Ave.
Cheyenne, Wyo.

(Notes in pencil, "Chief Yeoman", "My Chief Yeoman", "Unanswered")

U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS (CA-35)
Survivor Group

26 August 1945

Mrs. B.D. Carey,
2321 Warren Ave.,
Cheyenne, Wyo.

Dear Mrs. Carey:

I have received your letter and it is with regret that I have to inform you that your son, Jack L. Waters, CY, is not among the survivors and is missing in action. I cannot hold out much hope for his survival as I believe he went down with his ship. Waters was my Chief Yeoman and his shipmates and I share with you your grief and sorrow.

If any new information becomes available to the Navy Department I feel certain that it will be passed on to you by that Department.

Very Sincerely yours,

CHAS. B. McVAY, III.,
Captain, U.S. Navy.

(Handwritten paragraph to replace text that was struck through: "Your son was the senior yeoman in my office and I personally knew his many fine qualities. It is a great loss to the service as a whole and his shipmates and I share with your grief and extend our deepest sympathy to you.")