Did I Earn It?
USS Indianapolis
My father was a Navy World War 2 Veteran. Frustrated he couldn't join right after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, he finally joined at 18 in 1943. He was at the Battle of Okinawa but wasn’t actually part of the action. He did spend 6 months in occupied China after the war and his memories were pretty grim.
Needless to say, he was very patriotic and there wasn’t a holiday, war movie or battlefield that we didn’t know about or visit. Also, being a lover of history, there were few details about any war the US was involved in that he didn't know about. It was like having Google at the dinner table!
Inexplicably, at 12, I saw Jaws on the big screen and like many others, I couldn't sleep for weeks. My parents were NOT very sympathetic – of course, they hadn’t seen it!
Subsequently, I became fixated on sharks to the point where friends would stop me at lunch. “Oh My Gosh, Sally, nobody wants to hear about the bite ratio of a bull shark”.
Everyone remembers the haunting part of the movie when Captain Quint tells his story of the USS Indianapolis.
I immediately asked my father what he knew about the sinking, but to my surprise, my mother, who rarely had a history story, shared that her cousin, Bob Pait, died on the Indianapolis. “I was at my aunt and uncle's house in Mississippi when that tall, good looking, curly dark-haired, young man left to join the Navy, and I was with them sitting in the backyard quietly mourning his death while the world around us loudly celebrated the end of the war.” Now that story haunts me.
Several years ago, after seeing Jaws again, I starting googling to find out more about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and maybe what happened to Robert Pait. What I found is truly amazing and inspirational. It encapsulates almost everything about war - from the horror to incompetence to patriotism to sacrifice to heroism to forgiveness.
Memorial Day is a holiday where we remember those who have lost their lives in service to their country. However, the relationship between those that died and those that survived is so intertwined.
When you speak to a veteran, they are usually quite humble about their service because their belief is the true heroes didn't come back. For my father it was another step from that because he wasn’t in the heart of the action.
He was promoted to Sergeant the day before the ship sank. His promotion wasn’t put through until 2018 when the Navy finally reflected his official rank - this was coordinated by many who admired him.
As I was researching the many extraordinary accounts of the USS Indianapolis, the one that really grabbed me was the remarkable story of Sergeant Edgar Harrell.
He grew up in a town called Turtle Creek, Kentucky the oldest of seven brothers and two sisters. He joined the Marines when he was just old enough in 1943 desperate to fight for our country. He received 6 major battle medals out of the 10 earned by the USS Indianapolis, as well as the Purple Heart and the Congressional Gold Medal so suffice to say, he saw a lot of action.
After the “Indy” was hit by a bomb shot from a kamikaze at Okinawa in 1945, she limped back to San Francisco for repairs. Just as she was battle ready, she took on cargo that was kept secret from the crew. Sgt. Harrell was ordered to guard the precious cargo.
They abruptly headed to Tinian Island at top speed crossing the Pacific in 7 days unescorted, stopping only once at Pearl Harbor. After unloading the mysterious cargo, she sailed to Guam and then sailed for the Philippines - controversially, the captain was denied a request for an escort.
On 7/30/45 at 12:15 AM - Japanese Commander Mochistsura Hashimoto fired 6 torpedos from his submarine. The Indianapolis had no underwater sonar. Two torpedos hit the starboard side of the ship, one taking off the bow, the second amidship, setting off massive explosions. The ship sank in 12 minutes - no time for lifeboats.
Sgt. Harrell’s personal heroic journey started when he stood at the rail of the Indianapolis with only a kapok jacket looking down into the black water covered in oil as the ship was sinking.
“There are times when you pray and there are Times When You PRAY!”
He had a conversation with God making “every promise I could think of.” He then felt God’s presence, it was like wrapping him in an assuring warm blanket. He absolutely believed that God was with him when he hit the water and that belief never wavered.
WW2 Kapok life jackets were designed for floatation up to 48 hours max.
The scene in Jaws, of course, focused on the sharks, but the real story is that the oceanic whitetip shark wasn’t the only thing to fear in the water. During the next 4 to 5 days, the survivors were freezing at night and baking in 110 degree sun.
Many men, so dehydrated, succumbed to drinking the salt water which in turn, caused them to hallucinate. Tragically, they would turn on their fellow survivors thinking they were the enemy or they might swim off, convinced there was an island in sight. Drinking the salt water was also a way to end their misery.
That was when the sharks would attack. Out of 1195 on board, it’s estimated that 900 went into the water and 316 were rescued. It is the worst naval disaster in US history.
Sgt. Harrell did what he could to encourage the others in his group. He even held prayer circles from 10 am to 1pm the first two days. How did he know what time it was? His watch was still working and still runs to this day in the Indiana War Memorial Museum in Indianapolis.
“There were no tears because of dehydration, all of the tears were in the ocean”
The whole time he was in the water his goal was to survive and to encourage others to survive. He survived for his family and for the “brunette that promised she would wait.” He inspired many others to keep fighting, especially his friend and fellow Marine, Scooner, who contemplated suicide. He promised him he would never leave him.
However, there was one particular young man next to him who was a new Marine that finally, completely lost hope. Sgt. Harrell prayed over him when he passed and never forgot his face.
As his group of 80 reduced to 17, there were times when he almost thought it was his turn but then remembered the feeling at the rail - that God must have something planned for him.
“Gone was the attitude of pride that deceives men into thinking that there is no God or if there is, they don’t need him. When a man is confronted with death, it is the face of Almighty God he sees, not his own.”
Never did he say that he was more deserving or better than the others who didn’t make it. He acknowledged that it was much harder to stay alive than to let go. If they were in the water one more day, he knew he wouldn’t have made it.
“Only a miracle could save us, so we prayed for a miracle”
Their rescue was a miracle because as it turned out, nobody was looking for them.
A plane flying low happened to spot them. The crew had opened the bomber doors to fix the radar antenna and looked down.
Sgt. Harrell believed it was Divine Providence.
After they were rescued, it took several long extremely painful weeks to recover from the salt water ulcerations, complications due to the extreme dehydration and muscle atrophy due to the constant motion to stay afloat. On average they each lost 35lbs over the 5 days. Two men didn’t survive recovery.
USS Indianapolis survivor quietly returning home to no fanfare.
As they were recuperating they found out what was in the mysterious cargo from San Francisco. The components to Little Boy, the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima 2 days after they were rescued. That knowledge would add to the heavy weight already on their shoulders.
Not only were they forgotten at sea, they were forgotten when they returned home. No hero’s welcome met them in San Diego, as their families had not been notified of their arrival.
As details unfolded, there were many mistakes made by the Navy. Distress signal wasn’t taken seriously, nobody reported the ship missing when it didn’t arrive in port, no escort with sonar, etc.
Because of pressure by grieving families and the media, the Navy decided to court martial Captain McVay who bravely survived with the 316 and found him guilty of negligence - failure to zig zag to avoid attack. 70 ships were sunk during WW2 and he was the only captain to face a court-martial.
Capt. Charles B. McVay III was from a well respected Naval family.
All of the survivors disagreed with the verdict but they were unable to help. When they invited him to the reunion, he wept as 500 survivors and their family members met him at the airport.
Unfortunately, he never recovered and after his wife and grandson died, he took his own life in 1968. Before his wife passed, she had been shielding him from the hate mail and phone calls from grieving families. A roll of letters was found in his desk drawer.
In 2000 his name was cleared when a 6th grade student named Hunter Scott (who had watched Jaws) won a prize at a history fair by making a compelling case for his innocence (he interviewed 150 survivors and read 800 documents - love this kid). Sgt. Harrell, other survivors and Hunter went to Washington to testify in Congress - it was important to the survivors to clear the name of their Skipper.
photo courtesy of www.ussindianapolis.com
Did the “Brunette” wait?
After his recuperation, Sgt. Harrell returned home to his family in Kentucky and married Ola Mae in 1947.
They were married 71 years.
“He was a lifter, he lifted others burdens”
Sgt. Harrell carried the heavy burden of those who perished in the water and his own memories of the tragedy as a blessing. He would say that he made a lot of promises on that rail and he did his best to keep them. If he forgot one, God always reminded him.
He was an extremely successful businessman but lived frugally, donating most of his money to causes he believed in.
He always carried 15 $100 bills in his billfold. When his son asked why, he said “You never know who the Lord wants me to help today.”
He was very active at his church and beloved by his church family. Children always knew he had lifesavers in his pocket for them.
Sgt. Harrell was instrumental in organizing the USS Indianapolis Survivor Group reunions each year. He traveled extensively throughout the world keeping the story alive. There is so much more to it and I highly recommend you hear him tell it. (Click HERE)
One day he received a message from a woman who wanted information about her uncle who was on the ship. He didn’t recognize the name but when she sent a picture, he broke down and wept. He was the young man who had lost hope. Sgt. Harrell reassured her that her uncle wasn’t alone and he died in his arms.
Commander Mochistsura Hashimoto
His ability for forgiveness was tested when the granddaughter of Commander Hashimoto visited a reunion. She shared that she was from the family he started after the war because when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 7 days after he torpedoed the ship, his entire family was killed.
She asked for forgiveness and Sgt. Harrell hugged her, thanking her for her courage and for giving the survivors the opportunity for closure. She or a member of her family now comes to the reunion every year.
Sgt. Harrell just passed away on May 8, 2021, joining his wife who was surely waiting for him. They had two children, eight grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren and he was a powerful positive force in their lives. When they went through his clothes after he passed, his jackets were full of lifesavers.
There are only 5 survivors left.
So remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice on Memorial Day is only made possible by those who survived to tell their story - like my second cousin, Robert Pait, of whom, I don’t even have a picture but now know what he may have endured.
At the end of Saving Private Ryan, the elderly Ryan asks his wife, “Tell me I’ve led a good life. Tell me I’m a good man.” He was worried he didn’t live up to his Captain’s last command to “Earn it.”
Is it not also a question for those of us, who, by the Grace of God, have never been tested in this way and are living a life provided by those brave men and women before us…are WE Earning It?
Sgt. Edgar Harrell answered to a higher authority. He made a pact with God to earn his survival and it was crystal clear among those lives he touched (even mine watching on YouTube) that when God finally welcomed him home, 76 years after his conversation at the rail of the sinking USS Indianapolis, he heard “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
“Like all the marvelous and mysterious doctrines of God, the coexistence of Divine Sovereignty and human responsibility remains an incomprehensible paradox to the human mind.
Certainly, one that offends man’s rabid commitment to self determination.
But, as I look back over my life through the lens of Scripture, I have no doubt that indeed God is in control and without coercion, he uses human means to accomplish his purposes, even the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.
I, therefore, find solace in the inscrutable mysteries of God and relax in the safety of His Sovereign Rule. It is to His glory that I recount my story, a story that exults the one who ultimately wrote it.” — Sergeant Edgar Harrell, from his amazing book Out of The Depths (click here for link)
