It is July of 1945, and the American war with Japan is nearing its earthshakingfi nale. Meanwhile the fi ghting continues unabated, and the USS Atwoodis attacked. Hundreds of men are killed at once while hundreds more areforced to abandon their sinking ship. Awaiting a rescue which might nevercome, the men in the water are left to struggle against heat and cold, thirstand despair, insanity and sharks.
Among these desperate men is Art OHara, king of the liberty hogs anddistinguished scalawag. Imprisoned in an environment of surreal savagery,he seeks escape amid his own scarcely tapped imagination and memory,evoking at last a nearly forgotten love for a Japanese American whosefamily has been sent to an internment camp.
Th e Odyssey of Art OHara is a work of fi ction based on the true story of theUSS Indianapolis. Th e author, John Loranger, was born in Butte, Montanain 1961. He served in the United States Navy from 1983 to 1987.
