Colorado has lost a World War II hero -- Paul J. Murphy has passed away.
The long-time Broomfield resident was one of the last surviving crew members of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. The ship was a U.S. Navy cruiser that was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945.
The ship was returning from a secret mission where the crew successfully delivered the key components of the atomic bomb.
The Indianapolis sank in just 12 minutes in the shark-infested waters of the Philippine Sea. Of the 1,196 men on board, 300 went down with the ship. The remaining sailors floated on debris in oil-slick water.
Because of the secret nature of the ship's mission, it took four days for authorities to realize the ship was missing. Only 316 men survived. One of them was Paul James Murphy. His story, as told to Denver7's Mitch Jelniker is in the player above.