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Remember...Bud Richard Greathouse
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Bud Richard Greathouse was born October 7, 1925, at Flemington, Taylor County, West Virginia, to Noel Gilbert Greathouse and Beulah Beatrice Batson Greathouse. Bud had two older brothers, Richard Earl and Charles Ray. His father (who owned a variety store) died in 1929, and his mother later was remarried to Arden Lynch (an attendant at an oil and gas station), who brought six children to the marriage. Thus, during his childhood, 11 people lived together under one roof. Bud graduated from Flemington High School in 1943, and his yearbook entry simply lists his ambition as "farmer," but he soon went to work for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
He quickly left the railroad and entered the U.S. Navy, serving first on the USS Cambria and then on the USS Indianapolis. Joining the "Indy" in May 1944, he would have participated in the assault on the Mariana Islands. In 1945, the Indianapolis supported the ground landings at Iwo Jima and Okinawa; then, after repairs, it proceeded to the Tinian Islands, near Guam. Although its sailors were unaware of the cargo it was carrying, the Indy carried component parts to the first atomic bomb, "Little Boy." After delivering the bomb components to the Tinians, the cruiser returned to Guam and then headed to Okinawa.
On July 30, 1945, the Japanese submarine I-58 fired torpedoes at the Indianapolis, successfully sinking the cruiser. While not all the sailors went down with the ship, those who survived the torpedo blasts struggled for days in the predator-filled water, the daytime heat, and nighttime cold. It's unclear whether Seaman First Class Greathouse went down with the ship or perished later. In August 2017, a team of civilian researchers discovered the wreckage of the Indy more than 18,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
| A Purple Heart recipient, Bud Greathouse is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines and at a memorial to the USS Indianapolis in the city for which it was named. A cenotaph attesting to his service can also be found in the West Virginia National Cemetery. |  |
For a more comprehensive biography of Bud Greathouse, refer to the essay written by Maddie Moats and Jamie Eickleberry, at the West Virginia Humanities Council's National Cemeteries Project, https://wvhumanities.org/wp-content/national_cemeteries/Greathouse_Bud_Richard-USN.pdf.
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
