Loel Dene “L.D.” Cox, 88, of Comanche, TX, a survivor of the most tragic disaster in U.S. Navy history, died Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015, at Early, TX.
Funeral services, under the direction of Heartland Funeral Home of Comanche, will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday Jan. 29, 2015, at the First Baptist Church of Comanche with Dr. Van Christian and Gabriel Fisher officiating. Interment will follow at the Cox Cemetery in Sidney. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28. Condolences to the family can be left online at www.heartlandfuneralhome.net or come by the funeral home to sign the register.
L.D. was born on April 12, 1926, in Sidney, TX, to Ottie Scott and Olene (McCarty) Cox. He graduated in 1944 from Sidney High School and played on their six-man football team. Right out of high school, L.D. joined the U.S. Navy at Norman, OK.In World War II, he served aboard the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35), and attained the rank of Seaman 1st Class. The USS Indianapolis served as the flagship for Vice Adm. Ray Spruance. During the war, the glorious “Indy” and her valiant crew were awarded 10 battle stars. The Indy was heavily damaged in March 1945 by Japanese kamikaze bombers during the battle of Okinawa, and was ordered back to San Francisco’s Mare Island for repairs. L.D. donated a piece of shrapnel from the attack to the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, TX.
From Mare Island, the Indy was dispatched to Tinian Island, carrying aboard components of the atomic bomb that was soon to be dropped on Hiroshima. After leaving Tinian, the ship went to Guam and then was ordered to sail to the Leyte Gulf in the Philippines.
En route to Leyte, a Japanese submarine struck the Indy with two torpedoes a little after midnight July 30, 1945. The ship sank within 12 minutes. The Indy carried 1,197 crew members. Approximately 400 men went down with the ship. The remaining men hit the shark-infested waters and struggled for five nights and four days to survive before being found and rescued. L.D. was one of 317 crew members who survived the sinking. The rest of the crew perished because of starvation, exhaustion and shark attacks. L.D. was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries suffered during the ordeal.
After the war, L.D. began attending John Tarleton Agricultural College, earning an Associate in Science degree in 1947. He then attended Texas A&M College where he graduated in 1948 with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Education. He taught for one year in San Angelo before returning to the Comanche area where he has since lived.
In February 1949, L.D. married Sara Lou McCarroll, a union that lasted 65 years. L.D. began working in 1952 for Moorman’s Manufacturing Co., and was swiftly promoted to the position of State Sales Manager for the Texas and New Mexico regions until retiring at age 58. In 1966, L.D. was appointed to the board of directors of Comanche National Bank, a position he held until his death.
Throughout his sales career and after retirement, he pursued his ranching activities along with other business ventures. L.D. was always present at stock shows across Texas for both business and pleasure and his wide range of friends included celebrities and filmmakers, landing him a bit part in the 1976 movie Pony Express Rider. He was active in numerous associations including the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the National Rifle Association, the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
L.D. was a member of Church of Christ, Sidney, TX.
In retirement, L.D. was very active as a public speaker across the country, telling his story and promoting civic duty and military service to audiences young and old. He traveled annually to the city of Indianapolis to join his fellow USS Indianapolis shipmates who survived the sinking and their families for their reunion to honor those who did not survive or have since departed.
L.D.’s ever-present smile in his public appearances complemented his philosophy about life in general. He was well-known for making the observation that: “It’s a great day! Better than yesterday, and not nearly as good as tomorrow will be.”
Visitors to his beloved ranch south of Comanche also enjoyed watching L.D. prepare his famous “Two-Song Biscuits.” He can be seen on Facebook singing the two old cowboy songs he sang while kneading the dough for the biscuits.
In August 2000, L.D. and three other survivors joined the Discovery Channel and undersea explorer Curt Newport on a month-long deep-sea expedition in search of the doomed Indy. Although unsuccessful in locating the ship, the resulting documentary has been a popular recurring Veteran’s Day program for the network.
L.D. is survived by son Lowell Dean Cox II and his wife Terry of San Gabriel, CA; grandson, Jeff Lin of Los Angeles, CA; niece Suzanne Heptner and husband Jerry, nephew Scott Brehm and wife Minerba; and numerous cousins. He was preceded in death by wife Sara Lou Cox; parents, Ottie Scott and Olene King Cox; stepmother Gussie Hansard Cox of Sidney; and sisters, LaVera Wood and Nellon Brehm.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials kindly be made to the Cox Cemetery Association, c/o David Steele, 781 CR 165, Sidney, TX 76474; or to the USS Indianapolis Survivors Organization, c/o Elko Perchyshyn, 1073 Orange Ave. East, St. Paul, MN 55106.
