THIS WEEK ON LATINOPIA: BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO ON IMMINENT STORMS, ALFREDO SANTOS ON D-DAY REMEMBERED, AND SURVIVOR ADOLFO “HARPO” CELAYA ON THE SINKING OF THE U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS.
This week marks the 75th anniversary of the landing of Allied troops at Normandy, what became known as D-Day. But the European theater of war wasn’t the only one in which Latinos fought. On July 30, 1945 the Navy cruiser U.S.S. Indianapolis was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine in the Pacific. Because it was on a secret mission to deliver the atomic bomb to the island of Tinian, the sinking was not immediately reported. 900 men went into the water after the sinking of the ship and for five days they fought off dehydration and shark attacks. By the time they were finally rescued, only 300 men remained alive. Adolfo “Harpo” Celaya, from Florence, Arizona, was one of these survivors. Latinopia interviewed Harpo and here we repost our three-part interview with him about his experiences surviving the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. This is really amazing testimony–don’t miss it.
Also on this the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Alfredo Santos returns with his monthly blog about doings in Texas culled from La Voz newspaper. This week Alfredo reminds us of the sacrifices made by some many Latinos not just on D-Day but throughout the war on all fronts, including members of his own family.
And this week José M. Umpierre returns with his regular column, Burundanga Boricua. As hurricane season approaches the island of Puerto Rico, el Zocotroco reminds us that, with the on-going Puerto Rican economic crisis continuing, there is more than one storm afoot.
Check out your Latinopia for this week.
Tia Tenopia