Sailor Denies Wrongdoing in Iowa Blast

The sailor linked to an investigation of the explosion aboard the battleship Iowa denied any wrongdoing Friday and charged that the Navy was seeking a scapegoat.

Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Kendall L. Truitt, 21, retained Miami attorney Ellis Rubin to represent him. Rubin warned that continued allegations against Truitt, from a charge that he is a homosexual to one that he intentionally caused the explosion that killed 47 sailors on April 19, would be “answered in court.”

Truitt and Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Clayton Michael Hartwig, 24, who died in the gun turret blast, were friends and took out $100,000 life insurance policies naming each other as the beneficiaries.

Homicide a Possibility

Navy investigators have said that they are looking into the relationship, including a reported falling-out last year when Truitt was married, as they study homicide as a possibility in the case.

“I think the Navy is at a loss,” Truitt said. “They’re just looking for a scapegoat.”

Rubin said Truitt had come to South Florida “seeking counsel and advice in connection with these vicious, untrue, false and malicious rumors leaked by the Intelligence Service of the Navy and transmitted to favored elements of the media.”

“They have no evidence,” he said. “They don’t even have probable cause.”

Rubin said Truitt risked his life to save other sailors after the explosion.

Truitt and his wife, Carole, joined Rubin outside the attorney’s law offices for a news conference in which Truitt denied the allegations against him. Rubin asked if he was a homosexual, which Truitt denied. He then asked Truitt’s wife if her husband was a good lover. She replied affirmatively.

Truitt, who has been reassigned to the Mayport Naval Station at Jacksonville, Fla., denied ever noticing homosexual tendencies in Hartwig.

He also confirmed the existence of Hartwig’s accident insurance policy and said he was named the beneficiary “because he (Hartwig) was my friend.”

In a later interview on the NBC-TV network news, Truitt said that he and Hartwig “never had a complete falling-out” and the two had talked several days before the fatal cruise.

“He was very excited about his new orders” to work as a driver at the U.S. Embassy in London, Truitt said.