Project 888
Name: Arthur Richard MICHNO
Rank / Rating: S2-Seaman Second ClassService #: 285 28 17 DOB: Aug 12, 1925 From: Lakewood, OH Parents: Kazimir and Helena Michno Went Aboard: Sep 01, 1943 Age When Ship Went Down: 19 years, 11 months, 18 days Spouse: Children: Grandchildren: Bio Submitted By: Arthur Michno Family |
 MICHNO, Arthur R |
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Arthur Michno S2, or "Archie" as he was known to the family, was born in 1925 in Lakewood, Ohio - in the neighborhood we still call "Birdtown". He was the youngest son, the sixth child in a family of nine. Born to Kazimir and Helena Michno from Poland. From all accounts he was a precocious child, yet very well-liked by everyone. He would drive his youngest sisters to school even though he was too young to have a valid driver’s license. He briefly attended Lakewood High School leaving school to enlist in the Navy. Archie was in a hurry to grow up: his sister said he fudged his birth date so he could enlist in the Navy sooner and join his brother, Henry CM1 (USS Bobolink). We don’t know if that story was actually true, but it is part of the family lore.
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 Archie and brother Henry, last photo, Pearl Harbor, 1945 (See photo at left)
Once inducted, he completed boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Shortly thereafter he was assigned to USS Indianapolis. He joined the ship’s company and was part of all the major actions in the Pacific during 1944-45. During the pre-invasion bombardment of Okinawa in March 1945, Indianapolis was attacked by a Nakajima Ki-43 “Oscar” fighter in a vertical dive. The plane released its bomb before it clipped the side of the ship and crashed into the sea. The bomb went through the deck and all the way through the keel when it exploded. Archie was on board but uninjured.
The ship made its way back on its own to the West Coast of the U.S. and while it was being repaired at Mare Island, Archie had his last visit home. Shortly before he returned from leave, he gave a cigar box to one of our Aunts that contained war souvenirs. Archie told her these objects were something special and when he returned, he would tell her all about them.
The events following the departure of Indianapolis from San Francisco’s Hunters Point Naval Shipyard on 16 July 1945, the record-breaking run to Tinian with parts of the Little Boy Bomb and her sinking on July 30th are now well known. At the time of the sinking, very little information was shared with our family when they were first notified - and for a long period thereafter.
Notification of the loss and then death of Archie came long after the event. The relief and elation our family experienced with the war ending quickly turned to sadness and pain. His sister said that the church bells were still ringing in the background when they received the first ominous telegram.
We believe that Archie was asleep late that night when the torpedo hit and would have perished in just moments.
When our aunt passed away the contents of the cigar box passed on to our brother, Larry. By then, he had developed his own keen interest in Archie’s life and the story of the Indianapolis. Larry was able to convince Wes Cowan from the PBS TV Series, History Detectives, to help him figure things out. His research was featured during Season 5, Episode 8. The upshot of the segment was that the Japanese artifacts were not from the Kamikaze airplane, though it left open the origin of those metal fragments. We still harbor the belief, perhaps poorly founded, that those fragments are from the ship itself after that Kamikaze attack.
That segment (at 34:40) was important to us for another reason - it also featured an interview with L.D. Cox S2, an Indianapolis survivor. The interview conducted at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas, included Cox’s retelling of his personal experiences during the Kamikaze attack and his survival after the USS Indianapolis sinking several months later. Wes concluded the interview by showing L.D. Cox Archie’s picture and asked whether he recognized Archie. He smiled and said he did. He didn’t give any other details but having experienced that moment in the program when it originally aired - being able to connect Archie’s memory to someone who survived - helped us appreciate the great sacrifice he made for us.
The dedication of the memorial plaque at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery was especially meaningful for his surviving sisters who attended its dedication. The epitaph on his memorial, "Lost but not found", expressed their continued longing. (See photo below)
Finally, there was the discovery of the actual USS Indianapolis shipwreck site at the bottom of the Philippine Sea in 2017 by Paul Allen’s Research Vessel Petrel. We told our Mother about the discovery when she was well into her 90’s, and even though her mind had become fragile and her memory unreliable, she responded with a sweet smile. It was news she had waited 72 years to hear.
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