Pharmacist's Mate 1st Class Jack A. Roland served aboard the cruiserUSS Indianapolis when the cruiser was sunk on the early morning of July 30, 1945.

After delivering the first atomic bomb to Tinian Island, the cruiser was ordered to report to Leyte Gulf. At 0012 hours Indianapolis was torpedoed by the IJN submarine I-58 in the Philippine Sea and sank in 12 minutes. Of 1198 men on board, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remainder were left floating in shark-infested waters with no lifeboats and no food or water. The ship was never reported missing, and by the time the survivors were spotted by accident four days later only 316 men were left alive.

Roland is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines.

Jack Roland