And then, the night of the 29th, about 14 minutes
past midnight, we encountered a Japanese sub. Honestly, as I tell it, it’s more
than just telling it. I can relive it. I can see and feel and hear. As the United States moved full steam
ahead into the Second World War, many young men like Edgar
Harrell of Murray, Kentucky could hardly wait to graduate before
joining up with the Armed Forces. Well, as an 18 year old, I was working
on the farm and going to high school. And I knew what was happening in
the Pacific, and I told my dad, “Dad, I don’t want to wait to be
drafted. I want in the Marines.” And I went to the draft board and told them that my number hadn’t come up, but
I’d like to join the Marines. And they were kind of excited about a 17 or
18 year old boy wanting to get in the Marines. I went to San Diego boot camp, and after
boot camp they said, “Private Harrell, you’ve been selected to go to sea school.” Which meant that I would be sea-going. And so
I went through some six weeks of schooling. They sent me up to San Fransisco,
then they took me up to the dock, and there was the big USS Indianapolis. And that’s going to be my home
for the duration of the war. The USS Indianapolis was a heavy
cruiser of the United States Navy. Aboard ship, Edgar would experience combat
throughout much of the Pacific theater as the Allies worked to undo the ferocious
conquest of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces. I went through, maybe, ten battle stars with them. Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, the sea battle of the Philippine
Seas where our task force shot down 403 Japanese aircraft that day. I was at Iwo Jima, and then I was at Okinawa. And it was at Okinawa
that we received a suicide plane. One of his bombs went all the way through
the ship, and left a big, gaping hole there To the extent that we had to make our way
all the way back to the States for repairs. And that changed our directions for the
duration of the time I was in service. The Indianapolis returned to the Californian
coast and underwent successful repairs. It was then that she received
orders for a secret mission, the results of which would determine
the final outcome of the war and change Edgar’s life forever. From there, we picked up a top secret cargo. I was a corporal at the time, and
I happened to have the guard duty. And my Marine captain came to me and
said, “We’ve got something coming aboard. We don’t know what it is, but it’s a big crate.” “What are we guarding?” He said, “We don’t know.” And then, there were two men, proposed
to be Air Force Officers, coming aboard. They had a little canister in a
metal cage with a padlock on it. “What is that? Who are these Air Force Officers?” Well, they weren’t Air Force Officers. They
were scientists from Los Alamos, New Mexico. And what they had was a component of Little Boy and the uranium that
would ignite the first atomic bomb. I didn’t know what we had, at
the time. President Truman knew. Because, the 16th of July, they detonated
the first Atomic Bomb in Los Alamos. Then we got underway real soon. I mean,
we went as fast as that ship would go. We went to a place in Tinian, and someone came and
took that big crate and that little canister too. After successfully delivering its cargo, the
Indianapolis set course for the Philippines to prepare for the upcoming invasion of Japan. But the ship would not reach its destination. And then, the night of the 29th, about 14
minutes past midnight, we encountered a Jap sub. Honestly, as I tell it, it’s more
than just telling it. I can relive it. I can see and feel and hear. I got off of watch that night at midnight,
and so I go below deck and I get my blanket. I go topside and go all the way
forward to number one turret. I made me a pallet on the deck,
underneath the barrels of that gun, and probably just began to doze off. About eleven or twelve minutes
after midnight, Commander Hashimoto picked us up with a little periscope Just barely sticking up out of the water.
We couldn’t see him, he could see us. We had no underwater sound gear. They sent us out
unescorted. He was surprised that we were alone. He fired six torpedoes. That first torpedo, not knowing what it was,
but I knew that something happened up there. I could see all of that water and
that flame going high in the air. And then, maybe two seconds later, another one hit under
the number two turret of the big eight inch guns. And then I could see that about thirty feet
wide of the bow of the ship - it’s not there. All of that water is coming in,
and I know that the ship is doomed. And there were those who were coming from inside,
and you could see that they were fash burned. When they were trying to get out, they’d touch a bulkhead and they’d leave
the skin of their hands on the bulkhead. And now they’re pleading. They’re out
in the open and pleading for help. But there’s nothing that
this Marine corporal can do. And by now the bow of the ship is under. We’re listing to the starboard to
where you can’t stand on the deck. You’re waiting for word to abandon ship. Well, for the good Captain up there with no
electrical power, no speaker, no nothing, All he could do is - as loud as he could,
“Abandon ship, abandon ship, abandon ship!” And then, to go over to that
rail and grab ahold of that rail. You know that you’re going to be leaving
the ship or the ship is going to leave you. But as I got there, I held on to that rail. And may I say, there’s times when you
pray, and there’s times when you pray. And I knew to whom I was praying. And I
told the Lord that I don’t want to die. I knew that there was a certain brunette back
home that was going to wait for me. Mom and Dad. I don’t know what all I promised the Lord,
but, “I want to live, I want to live!” And may I say this: I can hear him today,
“Peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth. Let not your heart be troubled.
Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid.” I’m holding onto that rail, “Don’t be afraid,” And I knew that somehow,
someway, I’m going to make it. And I did not have the least idea what I was
going to experience the next four and a half days. I left the ship and swam away. I saw the bow of
that ship go under, and saw that fantail come up. And I saw boys as they were jumping off, and
some jumped into those screws as they came down. They couldn’t see what was below, but they
dared not allow themselves to be brought under. And it wasn’t long until, maybe eighty of
us or so, here we are in a little group. And I asked, “Any Marines?”
Well, there were two Marines. One was a new Marine that had
just come aboard in San Francisco. And he was not in my squad, so I didn’t know him,
but I could tell that he was wounded desperately. But he was dying. Basically, I held
onto him and he died in my arms there. Then I found another Marine.
That was my buddy Spooner. And he’d gone into the water head first. Can you imagine what you’d
look like and how it’s going to affect you If you would dive into a half inch of that
black oil. And he can’t see, and he’s desperate. It’s a long story with Spooner.
So much that he had to experience. Morning broke, and you could look out at any time
and you’d see a big fin swimming round and round. And you’re kind of in their road, and they go
through, and they don’t bother to miss you. They hit you, and that’s the end of you. You would see someone out by himself, you’d
hear a blood curdling scream, and you look. And you see him go under.
Two or three sharks there. You go and check your buddy and you find that
the bottom torso is gone, and he’s disemboweled. So, that’s going to take place
just so, so, so many times. Now the sun comes up. And when that
sun came up, it wasn’t appreciated at all, because it's 110 degrees. Now, where are you going to get your
water? You don’t have any water. And some would dare to drink a little
salt water. But just wait a little bit. That brain with all of that salt in it, that man doesn’t know straight up.
He doesn’t know you from a Jap. He may take his sea knife out, and he
stabs his buddy because he’s a Jap. And so, we’re losing boys. And a little rain cloud came over,
and you turn your mouth heavenward. You’re so thankful for that
water, but if you could just see those faces, you’d see that
they’re all covered with oil. You hold your mouth open, or you
try to funnel some of that water in. But when that oil gets down in that tummy, it isn’t long until that tummy
says, “We’ve got to come out!” And it comes out. So, you have no water. No water. So, the third day at noon, there’s seventeen. And then, all of the sudden,
we saw something out there. “Look, look! Well it looks
like it could be a raft!” We are making our way toward them, they’re coming
to us. They came into our group and they said, “The sun goes down in the west,
and the Philippines is there someplace. We’re going to head
toward the Philippines now.” May I say, we didn’t know it was another 500 miles
to the Philippines, but it’s time to do something. “Anyone want to join us?” And I said to my buddy Spooner, “I’m gonna
go, Spooner. Are you going to go with me?” Well, no. He wanted to commit suicide. He said, “I’ll swim down
so far, I’ll drown before I come back up.” I said, “You’re not gonna do any such thing.
We’re gonna go with that little raft.” And those other sailors, they said, “You’re
crazy. You can’t swim to the Philippines.” I said, “Yeah, but we can’t make it
if we don’t try.” And we started out. Those sailors that refused
to go, not a one survived. We’re making some headway, and we came
upon a swell and I saw something out there. And I said, “I’m gonna swim out
and see what that might be.” And they said, “But it’s just some debris.”
And I said, “I feel I’ve got to go!” And I made my way out there to whatever
that is. it’s just an old slatted crate. But as I got closer and closer, you
know what was in that? Potatoes! I recall reaching in and getting that first
potato. And as I got ahold of it, the rot squeezed through my fingers. Rotten potatoes. But as I squeezed it,
you know what? It was solid on the inside! And then I took that potato and
peeled that rot off and spit it out, and had just a little bit of potato on the inside. And my buddies see that I’m
eating something. “What is it?” And I made my way back halfway, and we met. And that’s the water that we got, and that’s the food that we had
for four and a half days swimming. We can’t all hang around that little raft. And my
buddy Spooner that had wanted to commit suicide, I said, “Spooner, turn your back. I’m
gonna tie you on so you can’t get away.” Daylight begins to break this fourth day. Somehow or another we drifted away
from that makeshift of a raft. And I’m with this Navy lieutenant,
McKissick, and one sailor. And every little bit, I’d check this sailor,
because I’ve seen this so many times. It’s easy just to drop your head in the
water, and his head was in the water. I shook him and he was still alive. The second
time, he’s still alive. The third time, he’s gone. So it’s just McKissick and myself,
and we know that we can’t make it. But at least we could converse
a little bit, and we could pray. We see planes flying at 30,000
feet. Our B-29’s bombing Japan. But then, all of a sudden,
we saw and we heard a plane! Here he is, out on a search
and destroy in that Ventura. Lieutenant Gwinn said, “I looked down.” He
said, “I thought I saw a flash of light.” But as he started down, he came a little
ways and he could see every way he looked bodies, bodies, bodies. Sharks, sharks, sharks. But I can see him today when Lieutenant Gwinn
came down and circled over McKissick and myself. I could see his face in that plane
as he circled us two or three times. And he goes up and he breaks radio silence, and he
gets in touch with Adrian Marks, a pilot of a PBY. It isn’t long until he gets there. They told him, “You can’t land.”
But he said, “We have to land!” And the crew said, “We will
back you. We have to land!” He said, “I’m gonna try to run a swell.” He
tried, but that right prop would never run again. The damage inflicted on the PBY upon landing
made it impossible to take off again, but Commander Robert Marks and his
crew were able to provide a safe haven for some 56 sailors and Marines
until further help arrived. All he could do was pick up stragglers. When I got aboard, one of the
first men that I saw was Spooner! He finally got that undone and hung onto
that raft. And here he is talking to me. Then that destroyer came in. And
now we’re transferred aboard. Of the 1,200 Marines and sailors aboard the
Indianapolis at the time of her sinking, only 316 survived to see their rescue. A weary but elated Edgar was
returned to the United States, and after a slow recovery, reunited
with more than just his family. A certain brunette heard that
the Indianapolis was sunk. And she rushed to her mom and
said, “Mom, Mom! Ed was aboard!” Then, of course they talked about 100
percent casualties. But that brunette waited. I got home later and loved her to no end.
But I felt that I was too much of a wreck, And I told her, “I think we just need to steer clear until I can
come to myself and be worth you waiting for.” And we waited. We waited, and then,
then finally, we decided it’s time. We were married, then, in 1947. Two years
after the sinking of the Indianapolis. Edgar Harrell lived out the remainder
of his life publicly sharing his story to honor those who were lost in the
sinking of the USS Indianapolis. To the day of his passing in May of
2021, Edgar never ceased giving thanks that he survived those terrible days
in the Pacific in the summer of 1945. Oh, you can’t imagine. Thank
you, Lord! Thank you, Lord! Even today, I can not make contact with the Lord without
just remembering. Thank you, Lord! Even today. Thank you, Lord, at 96 years old and still
able to tell of your mercy and your grace. Yes.
