Adrian Marks, PBY Pilot Who Rescued Indianapolis Survivors
After the USS Indianapolis survivor's were discovered by accident, one of the first pilots to arrive was Adrian Marks, pilot of a PBY sea plane. Marks could see survivors who were alone in the water were in the greatest danger of shark attacks. He and his crew made the courageous decision to break navy regulations and attempted to land his PB-Y plane on the ocean, in 10 - 12 foot swells. He did land. It wrecked his plane, but it enabled Marks and his crew to shuttle back and forth, between ocean swells, and pick up 56 survivors. They stacked the survivors in the aisles of the plane like cord wood. They used parachute shroud to tie more survivors on the wings of the plane. An amazing example of courage and going above and beyond to save the men of the Indianapolis. Marks was 24 years old.