No medal possible for World War II priest from Connecticut

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — A Waterbury group was unable to get a posthumous medal for city native Navy Chaplain Lt. Thomas Conway, who spent his last three days swimming in shark-infested waters comforting fellow crewmen who survived the July 1945 sinking of the USS Indianapolis.

The Waterbury Veterans Memorial Committee made that announcement after a memorial Mass Thursday in Waterbury's landmark Immaculate Conception church on Conway's 110th birthday.

Committee secretary Robert Dorr said insurmountable U.S. Navy rules make it impossible to get the Navy Cross for Conway, acclaimed a hero by Indianapolis survivors ever since the ship sunk in July 30, 1945.