tv", featuring events, interviews, archival films and visits to college classrooms, museums and historic places. exploring our nation's past every weekend on c-span three. u.s. navy veteran harlan twible recounts being a young officer on the uss indianapolis after it was sunk in shark infested waters by two japanese torpedoes. the crew had just delivered atomic bomb parts to tinian island for the weapon that would be used on the city of the hiroshima. surviving crew members, only 317 out of 1196, were not rescued for several days. the national world war ii museum recorded this interview. harlan: i was born in gilbertville, massachusetts, march 10, 1922.

>> you just recently had a birthday too huh? harlan: yup. >> did you grow up in gilbertville? harlan: the first 18 years, i was in gilbertville, and i have not spent any time since then. >> is gilbertville where you would consider to be your hometown? harlan: it would be considered my hometown. >> and how many brothers and sisters did you have growing up? what was your family size and makeup? harlan: two brothers and one sister. >> where did you fit in? harlan: i was number three. >> now tell me, before we started recording, we were talking a bit about your family and growing up during the depression years. could you tell me a little bit about that about what life was

, like for you coming up during that time? harlan: my father was an irish-american. he emigrated from ireland to the united states to find a better place to live. and he and his family came over here, and i looked at their papers, and found out they had $600 to the whole family when they emigrated to the united states. my father spent most of his life in the clothing -- cloth industry. he was either a loom fixer or a weaver or whatever in these mills. >> you say your father was very education-minded when it came to the children? harlan: yes.

i can recall at a very early age, when my father was going to talk about what was going to happen in the future. he says, now when you get done with college the following will , happen. his ambition was that every one of his children would get the education that he did not get. >> and all of you did go on to get it. harlan: two doctorates and two masters. >> you would have been 19 years old, almost 20 when the japanese attacked pearl harbor. and do you recall where you are -- you were what you were doing , when you heard the attack? harlan: yes. i was walking through the united

aircraft factory and hartford, connecticut at 12:30 in the afternoon. >> where you working for united? harlan: no, this was a sightseeing tour that they had arranged, and which i wanted to go to on. >> what was your reaction to hearing that news? what was your reaction to hearing about the attack? harlan: the world war i had already been fought. we knew some of the survivors, and there were very few stories around about war. so when we heard that the japanese had struck us, we were astounded. >> had interviewer: had you been following what was going on in

europe? harlan: yes, we were very much interested. we did a lot of it, following in the schools. hitler was a real horror to all of us. interviewer: after high school, you started college on your own, correct? harlan: right. after graduating from high school, i got a job. i earned a great sum of $100, and i had $75 left to go to college, and i told my dad and mom i was going to go to college, and they did not resist and said, ok. but i did not have the funds,

and i went to college on $75. i survived. i paid the tuition. i paid my living expenses. and the spring of my first year in college, i remember reading in the paper you could take an exam to the naval academy and if you want you got an appointment to the academy. this sounded like heaven to me. this meant free clothing and a job after i get done. i came in second the first time i took the exam. the next time i took the exam, i came in number one. interviewer: when was it that you took the exam? harlan: in the spring. interviewer: what year? do you recall?

harlan: the first one would have been -- i really cannot tell. march or april, somewhere around there. it was the same time next year. interviewer: how old were you at the time? harlan: i was 19 for the first exam, and -- i have to do a little bit of arithmetic. interviewer: you took the first exam before the u.s. got into the war, 1941, and then 1942. harlan: i took the second exam, and i won.

this is a great thing in my lifetime, really, because it showed me you could do anything if you work hard enough at it. interviewer: tell me about life in the naval academy. harlan: the life at the naval academy was kind of severe those days. the plague years of the academy were awfully rough. very strict. very demanding. and, of course, i will never forget the -- and chairwoman were saying shake hands to the man to the right of you into the man to the left of you. one of you will not be here next fall. he was telling us it was going

to be tough. get ready for it. interviewer: did it end up being as tough as you were expecting it to be? harlan: academically, i think it was as tough as i thought it was going to be. as far as discipline was concerned, i did not realize discipline could be that severe. interviewer: what did you specialize in at the academy? harlan: engineering, mechanical engineering. interviewer: did you make any lifelong friends while you were at the academy? harlan: oh yeah, a lot of them. i cannot recall all of them.

my roommate, he passed away about 20 years ago, maybe 15 years ago. porky cantwell, he went on to become a captain in the navy. he died several years ago. i could name a lot of them if i sat down and thought about it. interviewer: when you took the exam to get into the academy, were you doing so with the intention of making the navy your career? harlan: i thought it was the greatest opportunity in the world. a full-time job after you graduated and a job until you wanted to get out. interviewer: when did you graduate from the academy? harlan: 1945.

interviewer: did you do -- was it -- didn't you have to do a tour aboard a ship? harlan: we had cruises every year, and that was to train us in the physical aspects of commanding a ship, so it was very good training. interviewer: and when you -- once you graduate, you are commissioned an ensign, correct? where were you assigned? where were you sent after graduation? harlan: the uss indianapolis. only 12 of us were assigned to capital ships at that time.

both of us were assigned to the indianapolis. my compatriot [indiscernible] i was the only one that went into active duty as far as i know on the indianapolis. interviewer: were you able to go home on leave after graduation? harlan: 30 days. interviewer: your parents must have been proud to see their son. harlan: they were, and of course, i was thrilled to death. my girlfriend all this time agreed we were going to get married and we got married on june 14. interviewer: while you were home on leave? harlan: yes, she was 21 and i was 23.

and it was a marriage that lasted 72 years. interviewer: what was her name? harlan: alice. interviewer: on june 14, you said. harlan: yes, flag day. interviewer: that is what, only five weeks later that the ship was sunk. harlan: right, on the 29th of july. interviewer: when and where did you report aboard the indianapolis?

harlan: i cannot name the seaport on the pacific coast. interviewer: in san francisco? harlan: no, what is the other one. interviewer: san diego? harlan: it was near san diego. i cannot remember the name of it. interviewer: coronado? harlan: no, one more. in any case, it was there that i reported aboard ship, and unbeknownst to me, our ship had been chosen to carry the first atomic bomb to the pacific. interviewer: so you knew absolutely nothing?

harlan: we saw these two sailors coming up the dock, and slung between them on a pole was this thing. i said to the chief, they must have a lot of damage in the pacific. that looks like a radium flask to me. and, when it came time for the court to inquire as to who knew when. he knew what it was. he said it was a radium flask. interviewer: what was your first impression of the indianapolis when you first reported? harlan: beautiful ship.

i have been on several ships before that, but that was a beautiful ships. interviewer: can you describe her a little bit for me? harlan: you had your command division and then you had the secondary division, and i was in secondary with the ship, the bomb blew up. it blew up the bow of the ship, and the ship began to sink. officer whitney said he was

going to go down and see what the orders would be from the chief executive officer, from the executive officer who was red flynn, and he went down, and never came back. i went down the ladder, and i reported to red flynn, and he said bring them in together and make them stay together. i did that. and, finally, i knew this was an impossibility and i gave the order to abandon ship. 325 men came along. out of the 325, 151 survived. interviewer: what were you doing

when the torpedoes hit? harlan: when you are on watch, you are always observing. you are observing the sea to see if there is an enemy approaching, if there was any real reason for caution. we did not see the enemy. it was cloudy. visibility was almost nil. interviewer: just prior to the ship being sunk, when you stopped at tinian to deliver the parts. harlan: when we stopped where? interviewer: at tinian. harlan: oh, ok.

interviewer: did you see the parts being removed? harlan: yeah i was on deck when they were unloading it. no big action on board the ship, but on the dock, there were admirals. everything of importance on tinian wasn't there. -- was there. we later found out it was the bomb. interviewer: were you able to go ashore while you were on tinian or no? harlan: no. as i recall, we took off to join the fleet. interviewer: so you were on watch the night of the 29th?

harlan: a quarter to 12:00, the torpedo -- as i recall, it was a quarter to 12:00 when the torpedo hit. torpedoes, not one. one took out the bow and started the immediate sinking of the ship. interviewer: were you aware the ship had stopped zigzagging? harlan: was i aware of what? interviewer: were you aware the ship had stopped zigzagging? harlan: yes, of course i was aware. everybody on the ship knew what the ship was doing. we had stopped zigzagging, and we had slowed the ship down. interviewer: did that concern you at all? harlan: no, it did not.

i am not absolutely positive we stopped all of the zigzagging. i know we slowed down to 22 knots. probably stopped zigzagging pretty much. we did not zigzag as i recall. going out. i cannot recall now. it has been a long time, 70 years. interviewer: so when the torpedo hits, there is a big flash. harlan: oh yeah, you knew we had been hit. interviewer: did you know it was a torpedo? or did you suspect you had hit a mine? harlan: i had no reasons for knowing it was a torpedo.

i was on the ladder coming down from skyaft, and then the second one hit. we knew we were in trouble. interviewer: so you gathered 325 men at the aft end of the ship, you said? harlan: i did not gather them. i told them to hang onto anything they could hang onto, including the lifelines. when the tilt became too great to hold on, i gave the order to abandon ship. nobody abandoned. then i yelled, follow me. at bodies came in so fast it was unbelievable. and we swam away from the ship. and then, we looked back and the ship went down. interviewer: you saw the ship go down?

harlan: yes, we saw it go down. it was only about 50, 60 yards from us. i do not know how many yards. it is hard for me to remember at this point, this date, but we could see the image of the ship going under. interviewer: what is going through your mind when you look back and see your home, even though you had only been aboard the ship for a few weeks? harlan: i had been at the naval academy and trained. they trained their officers well, and my first thought was, were there any senior officers around? and there were no senior officers. so i took command. to be honest, the sailors did not really want anybody to tell

them what to do. gunner, the real hero of my group said, you heard what the officer said. do what he wants you to do. so they all did. i started at that point to have to the life nets in the water. my group of 325 were pretty well tied up. interviewer: how did you determine there were 325 men in your group? harlan: counted, count off. in the navy, everything is count off. the 151 i get from the people on board.

the 325 was counting off. we counted off 325. interviewer: you had the guys tied? harlan: we had the guys tied to the rope. we had four of them in the water. we tied the rope together and the men tied themselves to the rope and get inside the rope. whatever they wanted to do, i wanted them to be attached. interviewer: did you all have life rafts or lifeboats? harlan: we had three rafts. -- there were so many cruelly injured people. we put them in the life rafts. and, as i recall, i do not think

there were any people in the life rafts that were hurt real bad. interviewer: you yourself had been wounded. harlan: pardon me? you had bid wounded, correct -- been wounded, correct? harlan: oh yeah, but by the grace of god, i had a big wound in my side from shrapnel. i bled a lot, but it did not take on --, so it healed itself but aut -- i don't know, length of time. interviewer: when you all got into the water that first night, what were some of the problems you all faced? harlan: disorder, fright,

wounds. i would say that was all we had. there was not any fighting. there was not any turmoil of that type. but everybody was scared to death. these are all 18, 19-year-old kids. interviewer: you are leading or in command of a group of 325 guys and you are, what, 23? harlan: 23, but i was well trained. i must say that the naval academy is fabulous. interviewer: were you all confident that you would be picked up fairly quickly? harlan: no, no, that was a big problem that we had was to try to keep the men thinking that

they would be saved, but there was no way on god's green earth that i knew we were going to be saved. in fact, when we were saved, the water had -- my lifejacket had become so sodden with water that it was almost up to my lip when i was in the sea, so i was maybe 10 or 15 hours from being -- i would have gone under. i would have presumed that all but a few would have gone under. interviewer: you were wearing one of the k pockets? harlan: yeah, the k pocket. it is supposed to last 90 hours. ours lasted four days and five

nights. interviewer: the following morning, the morning of the first day is when the sharks showed up, correct? harlan: right. interviewer: what was your first indication that this was going to be a problem? harlan: they grabbed some of our people who had broken free from the net. everybody tied to the net the sharks did not attack. every time the sharks were coming in, we would kick and scream and do things we thought would drive the sharks away, and they did drive them away. the sharks only picked off -- as far as i could see the sharks only picked off to eat or to kill people who were by

themselves. in other words, no protection around them. interviewer: could you see or hear any of the other groups of guys? harlan: none. interviewer: as far as you knew -- harlan: i did not know there was any other group. interviewer: as far as you knew, you're the only other survivors. at some point you had set up a shark watch. harlan: right. interviewer: what did you have the men doing? harlan: whenever they saw as yell "shark"ould and start screaming. i do not know whether the hell that was effective or not. at the sharks did not like us, so they would leave us, but the sharks, they attacked in groups.

interviewer: human beings are not designed to outmaneuver sharks in the water. harlan: no, there is no way you could. interviewer: you also had a deal with wounded men dying. how did you deal with that? harlan: pardon me. interviewer: you also had a deal with wounded men dying. how did you deal with that? harlan: they had been in rafts. we had been taking care of them, and when they died i just cut them loose from the group and let them float out to sea. i did not want the bodies around. interviewer: do you think that would have more of an effect on the survivors in the group? harlan: right, i am sure they

were glad to see the bodies go. interviewer: did you all have any kind of supplies at all as far as medical goes or food? harlan: i cannot recall. there was no food. i cannot recall if there was any water flasks. there were a couple, but i do not think they were in our group. they were in another group. interviewer: you all were floating in a big oil slick, correct? harlan: pardon me? interviewer: you all were floating in a big oil slick, right? harlan: yeah, that was a blessing because it helped us from getting sunburned. i had everybody smear themselves with oil. and they did, and it stopped them from dying of sunburn. interviewer: i actually read

that the oil, the fuel oil also may have contributed to keeping the sharks away. harlan: i would suspect. i am not a shark expert, but they did not -- they never attacked the group. they only attacked single people. the single people do not have the oil slick with them. interviewer: how did you keep the guys from, because you guys did not have freshwater. how did you keep the guys from drinking saltwater? harlan: well, i just told them what would happen. i have no recollection of anybody resisting the fact that i told them do not drink the saltwater.

interviewer: after the first day, once you start getting into days two and three, and how are you keeping your group under control? harlan: they were all so scared at that point. and feeble. anybody who could command would have been able to commend them. strangely enough, i had several officers in this group of people that stayed with me, and i never knew it until after we got out of the sea. interviewer: these were guys who were higher in rank than you? harlan: pardon me? interviewer: these were officers higher in rank than you? harlan: i would say they were higher in rank to me. me and iem came up to

said, you take over. -- he was so burned, and i said, "tie yourself to me, and i will dickcare of you," and remained. ofk went in and out rationality throughout the time. he remembered that i had told him what to do, and he told his i get, and to this day, --ters from his family for dick has died.

i get letters from his family for saving dick's life. i did not save them. he just did what i told him. interviewer: i guess, especially by the third day, after having been out in the heat or the sunlight that long with no food, no water you probably had quite a few guys who were going in and out of -- harlan: sanity? interviewer: yeah. harlan: yes, we saved all we could. if we spotted somebody that was starting to go under or lose his senses, we would try to take care of him. and if they fought, there was nothing we could do to stop the fighting. and when i say "fighting," they did not like the idea of someone telling them what to do.

you know, they are out of their heads. interviewer: what was your biggest fear during those few days you were in the water, those four days you were in your water? harlan: pardon me. interviewer: what was your biggest fear in the water? harlan: my fear was for the men, not for myself. i never feared for my. i was too busy. i did not go to sleep in the five days, five nights rather. my biggest concern always was the people that we could save that we save them. there were some we could not save.

they were just blown apart. we sort of nursed them as best we could, but we could not really do anything better than make them feel good. interviewer: and you stayed awake pretty much the entire time, correct? harlan: yes, i really believe -- i've looked back so many times. i really think i stayed awake all the five days. interviewer: you say by the time you were rescued, there was only 151 guys left? harlan: yeah. interviewer: were just the other badlyundred odd guys so

wounded that they passed? harlan: i think that the -- we all lost about 25, 30, 40 pounds. i went down from 151 to 129. that is my actual weight by weighing, by the way. interviewer: that is a lot of weight to lose in just a couple of days. harlan: yeah, well, you were not bringing any liquid in, and liquid is going out. interviewer: the issue you all faced was hypothermia. harlan: right. interviewer: a lot of people do not realize. you think the balmy, south pacific water is 85 degrees, but your natural body temperature is , you know, 98.6.

harlan: i think a lot of the people -- there was no way we could tell, that i could tell what caused their death. that was not my objective. my objective was to keep them alive. interviewer: how were you all located? how were you all found? harlan: us. i think i was in my office. an airplane flew over us and thought we were an enemy and came in a second time to bomb us. and, i think it was gunnar hall. horner.

i am not sure who it was yelled , "that is men in the water." not gunner horner. i do not know who the hell it was. one of the crew yelled, "those are our men!" "those are men in the water." they took another pass and notified the navy, and the navy came out of the ships 18 hours later. interviewer: that was gwen's plane? harlan: gwen was the captain of the plane that spotted us. interviewer: they flew over your group? harlan: yeah. checkwin, he is the hero of the crowd. interviewer: it took 18 hours for your crew was located? harlan: yeah.

interviewer: what were those 18 hours like, knowing that you had been sighted? harlan: there was a lot of joy. maybe, and i do not know about this, because i can only speak for myself, personally, but whatever i had to do, i had to keep alive, because somebody is coming to pick me up. interviewer: at what point did you realize, all right, i am going to make it through this? harlan: never thought of it. i only had -- i was imbued with this great responsibility they put into you in the naval academy, and my thoughts all of the time were my crew.

and how do i keep them together, and how do i protect them? interviewer: when did you find out that there were other survivors, as well? harlan: when we got on, i think it was -- i do not know where it was, but it was after we got on land. interviewer: and tell me about your rescue. how -- what ship pick you up? how did you get out of the water? harlan: pardon me. interviewer: tell me about your personal rescue. what ship pick you up? harlan: well, in typical navy tradition. everybody is trained. i made sure everybody was -- everybody in my group was on board ship before i got on.

and they carried me out of the water. i don't -- i really do not know, to be honest with you, who did the counting of the 151 men were -- who were left. but we were on ship. interviewer: which ship pick you up? harlan: oh, geez. i -- i wish iwish knew. this is what old age has done to me. my memory on these items is scarce. interviewer: is it the ringgold or the bassett? harlan: the bassett. interviewer: what happened to

you after they picked you up? harlan: they started to feed me water, teaspoon by teaspoon, and i can recall lying in a bunk and taking my naval academy ring off and putting it beside me, and they took me away to clean me up a little bit. not to really make me clean but to scrape some of the crud off. and i came back, and my ring was still there. and i was thrilled. my fingers had swollen up so bad that i could not stand the pressure of the ring on them. interviewer: how were you all treated by the sailors aboard the bassett who had picked you up? harlan: they thought we were

prize jewels, i guess you would say. they treated us so well, it was unbelievable. interviewer: i guess you probably -- i am assuming you passed out after you got aboard ship if you had been awake for -- harlan: oh, yeah. we did. as soon as they laid me down on a bunk, i was gone. i can recall that. but i stayed awake all that time. i do not know how long i slept. it must've been a long time. i was not not interested in food or water. i just was interested in sleep. interviewer: what did you do or what happened to you in the days following your rescue?

harlan: well, we -- we are -- i could recall we were isolated from the rest of the people in the camp that we were brought to. and i do not know where that was, but we were isolated for a long time. i forget and i, and who the other guy was, we were now beyond the scope of power, and we went up and signed out a jeep. i will never forget that. we signed out a jeep, and we were not supposed to sign out a jeep. we signed out a jeep and took off and explored the island. we had a hell of a time. interviewer: this was on pellalu? harlan: yeah.

we had a real good time. of course, dick was happy. he was cleaned up. his wounds were cleaned up and stuff. interviewer: were you all ever debriefed at any point? harlan: were we debriefed? oh, yeah, we --there was a lot of debriefing. and i do not know why i was chosen to get a medal. i do not know about it. nobody talked to me about it. a year and a half later, i was called on board the deck of the ship i was on and awarded the medal. am i destroying this? interviewer: no, no, no, you are

fine. you got a purple heart for your wounds. harlan: and then i got a medal for bravery. i guess -- i think i was the first member of my class to get a major medal. and admiral sprillens gave me my purple heart. interviewer: were you all told not to talk about the loss of the ship? harlan: i do not recall now, to be honest with you, whether we were or not. i did not want to talk about it. i did not want to talk about it to anybody, including my wife. i did not want anybody to know

what the heck we had been through. it was a horrible experience. i did not want to share the rotten experience with them. interviewer: where were you when the war ended? harlan: well, let's see. where the heck was i? jesus. interviewer: were you still on pellalu? harlan: pardon me? interviewer: were you still on pellalu? harlan: yep, i think we were. we were still on pellalu when the war ended. it ended after the second bomb, which was 14 days later. so i would say, yes, we were all still in pellalu. interviewer: when did you return to the united states?

harlan: gee. i do not know. i do not know how long we spent in the hospital, but we spent a long time in the hospital. i would say we probably returned to the states in november. i am guessing on all of these dates, you know? interviewer: and you -- when you came back, did you remain in the service for any length of time? harlan: oh, yeah, for sure, i did. i think i got out in 1989. i was put on inactive -- i was put on limited duty, which is

really through your career. they put me on limited duty. then, i asked to be put in reserve. i did not want to be on -- i wanted either to be admiral or nothing, and limited duty would not give me that opportunity, so i was on limited duty for about a year and a half to two years before i decided, this is not for me. interviewer: now, were you questioned, or did you take part in captain mcveigh's court-martial? harlan: oh, yeah. i was a big -- you see, when the bridge was blown out, the secondary con, and i was in secondary con, it takes control of the ship.

so i blew the hat off the -- i said, you are trying the wrong men. i was in charge of the ship. i was the only person left in secondary con. in the navy, you go down. and of course, they -- i do not know what you call it. they took a brief break in the court-martial, and they came back, and the captain was in command. how the hell can the commanding be in the water? so i maintained that all of the way through.

until -- senator smith heard my story. i went to him, finally. i think it was in 2000, 2001, and he had a hearing, and i will never forget senator warner. after we had the hearing, he came down and put his arm around my shoulder and said, "when i came into this room, i felt one way. ."ming out, i feel another i knew that i had won. the captain had been exonerated. interviewer: so that is when congress passed the resolution? harlan: yeah, i think it was 2001. i am not sure. interviewer: most of the survivors thought that mcveigh had been railroaded?

harlan: yeah, i think everybody did. interviewer: i mean, he was the only ship captain in the ward to be court-martialed for losing his ship? harlan: yeah. well, there is all kinds of stories as to why he was court-martialed. [indiscernible] interviewer: did you have any trouble after the war with nightmares or what we now know is post-traumatic stress? harlan: well, i don't know. i cannot tell you. so many years ago, i presume i did, but that was not anything i could not handle, and i was with my wife. she was a fabulous woman.

interviewer: when did you get off active duty? harlan: when did i get off active duty? the second time? interviewer: the first time. harlan: i think it was -- jesus, i cannot remember the dates. it could have been -- 1948 or 1949, the first time, and the second time was -- i do not know when the second time was.

harlan: 1953 was the second time. i was a full lieutenant. interviewer: after you left the service and left active duty, did you have any trouble transitioning back to civilian life? harlan: no. interviewer: were you able to use your g.i. bill benefits and go to school or buy a house? or? harlan: yeah, i think i -- i think i used g.i. benefits to get my masters degree at chicago. interviewer: and you served

during the korean war in intelligence, you said, in london? harlan: yeah. interviewer: what were some of your duties? harlan: i was a -- in the korean war. i cannot tell you what my duties were. i had to sign a thing. for 27 years, i would not say something. interviewer: you would not reveal what you were doing? harlan: i would not reveal what i was doing. so if it was that important, it was that important. let me tell you. let me tell you, this was a very interesting time. fabulous. i could have written books about it. interviewer: well, it has been

you than 27 years, so maybe want to write a book about it. harlan: then i have lost the facts. interviewer: how did -- how did your experiences of the war and your surviving the sinking of the indianapolis affect your life afterwards? harlan: well, first of all, let me talk about my marriage life. i had the most fabulous marriage a man has ever had -- could have ever want to have. i had 73 years of absolute bliss with my wife, and, maybe, this was all caused by the fact that -- we realizedng there were more important things

in life than just living. i do not know. i do not know what it was, but we had a fabulous living life. businesswise, what decision could i ever make that was anywhere as a important as the decision to tell those men to throw their lives into the water? that was the biggest -- probably if i went back in life, maybe that was one of the biggest decisions i ever made. because i was gambling everybody's life that we were going to win.

interviewer: you mean giving the order to abandon ship? harlan: yeah. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> american history tv. exploring the american story, we have been across the nation. like many americans, our staff is staying close to home due to the coronavirus. next, a look at one of our cities tour visits. >> the pearl kind of mirrors what san antonio is. on one side, it is history and culture and a nod to the past, and on the others, it is a look forward to what san antonio has become, just the diversity and inclusivity and all the different kind of things that are happening. the city was created more than 300 years ago. it became a melting pot. and the germans came in in the mid-1880's and built small