We like to say history comes to life at Guns Save Life meetings.

Nicolas Cage’s new movie profiles the courage of the men of the USS Indianapolis, which at the time was the fastest big boat in the US Navy’s inventory and it was tasked with taking the atomic bomb across the Pacific to open some canned sunshine on the Japanese to bring about the end of the terrible Second World War.

As Earl Riggins, one of the Marines attached to the USS Indy, told it, everything was going great until they got their boat torpedoed out from under them on their way back.  They were running low on fuel and ceased their zig-zag pattern to conserve fuel.  They also had the water-tight doors all open to facilitate airflow on a miserable hot night.  Those two decisions proved fateful – and not in a good way.

Mr. Riggins came two or three times to GSL meetings in the 1990s and 2000s to share with us his personal experience serving on the Indianapolis, and what it was like to remain adrift at sea for five days until the remaining survivors were rescued.  As the title of his book says, only 317 survived.

This week, three Guns Save Life meetings are on tap.

Monday:  Springfield, IL.  The Sangamon County GSL group will meet at Scheel’s in Springfield.  Todd Vandermyde, the NRA-ILA’s contract lobbyist and leader of the pro-gun forces in Illinois, will be our main speaker.

Tuesday:  Champaign, IL.  Champaign’s GSL meeting at Fluid Events in Champaign will feature Matt Edwards talking about the Obama administrations efforts to strip the firearms rights of Social Security recipients and also veterans using some very questionable tactics.  Tech time will feature GSL ladies discussing summer carry options.

Wednesday:  Charleston, IL.  The Charleston GSL meeting at the VFW in Charleston is slated to have a great lineup as well.

Here’s the trailer for the new movie, the USS Indianapolis.  It might be worth watching in theaters.

Here are some of the other men who have come to GSL meetings to give their first-hand accounts of things most people only read about in history books.

Mr. Cotter never talked about it at meetings, but he did confide about his experience as one of the first troops in Korea facing the human wave attacks during the early days of the Korean War.  We published them following his death.