The Nation - News from May 30, 1989

Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Kendall L. Truitt, the focus of the probe into the explosion aboard the battleship Iowa that killed 47 sailors, briefly boarded the ship at Norfolk, Va., to retrieve personal belongings but Navy officials kept his lawyer off the vessel. The lawyer, Ellis Rubin, said he had hoped to examine the battleship’s No. 2 turret, where explosions killed the sailors April 19. Truitt was reassigned to Mayport, Fla., after published reports linked him to the disaster. He has denied any involvement in the incident and speculation that he had a homosexual relationship with one of the sailors who died in the explosion. That sailor, Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Clayton M. Hartwig, made Truitt, 21, the beneficiary of a $100,000 accidental life insurance policy. If asked, Rubin said Truitt would answer questions from the House Armed Services Committee.