The Wreck of the Destroyer USS Jacob Jones-- Part 4

The survivors were in the open very cold water for hours before being spotted by a search plane. Many died in the meantime of hypothermia and frostbite. An hour later, a rescue boat plucked twelve from the rafts and one died en route to land..

Joseph Tidwell married later that year and stayed in the Navy, rarely speaking of what happened to him. His grandson Cmdr. Eric Tidwell, 39, of Jacksonville, Florida, is heading for Japan where he will command a fighter squadron.

He had read everything he could find on the Jacob Jones and dove 120 feet down to the wreck and said there was little left except for machinery.

The Story of a Ship and a Man. --GreGen