Former Indy electrician Bill Wallen was asked to talk about his experience on the ship. He was on the maiden voyage after its commissioning in January 1959. He served his nearly six years aboard the Indy. “I had a good time, and I’ve been a lot of places and seen a lot of things — a lot of things I didn’t want to see, but I saw,” Wallen said.

His son, Bill Wallen Jr., also served on the boat. Having his son and grandsons there with him was “important,” he said.” – Brownsville Herald

The Independence is the last of the Forrestal class carriers which were known as the first ‘supercarriers’ because of their massive size, 25% larger than the prior Midway class carriers.

Featured image of People lining the jetties as they watch the USS Independence being towed into the Brownsville Ship Channel for salvage on Thursday, June 1, 2017, at South Padre Island, Texas. A group of the ship’s past crew members stood and watched as the ship was towed up the channel toward International Shipbreaking Ltd., the recycling company that won the contract to scrap the ship. Photo by Nathan Lambrecht/The Monitor via AP

This article is courtesy of Fighter Sweep.