LCDR L. Peter Wren USNR (Ret.) entered the US Navy on December 28, 1941and completed “boot camp” in Norfolk, VA in January, 1942.  The highest rate achieved as an enlisted man was SK1/c.  He was commissioned as a line officer from Columbia University in April 1944 and assigned to the USS Coates DE 685 in the Atlantic Fleet.  He was transferred to the USS Bassett APD 73 in April 1945.  On July 26, 1945 the USS Indianapolis delivered the atomic bomb to Tinian Island for later dropping on Hiroshima.  The USS Indy was sunk by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945 and 152 of the 317 survivors were rescued by the USS Bassett.  Wren was a boat officer pulling the survivors from the sea.  Wren was released from Naval service in April 1946 and completed his degree from Michigan State University in 1948.  He was recalled for the Korean War and served on the USS Halsey Powell DD 686 from January 1951 until December 1952.  He was released to the Fleet Reserve where he completed 20 plus years of service and retired as a LCDR.

Wren has written several other books, including a history of the Confederate Navy.  He has discussed his experiences at the rescue of the Indianapolis on several major television networks including A&E , The Discovery Channel, The History Channel and the National Geographic Channel.

As a past president of the US Navy League in Richmond, VA he organized the Sea Cadet Program in Richmond.  He and his wife Helen Morrissey Wren have five children, one of which has served as an US Navy doctor.

To date Wren has authored three books on WWII and one with a co-author.  The books are Those in Peril on the Sea, We Were There, World War II Revisited and Battle Born-The USS Nevada.