Facing the unthinkable in South Pacific

On July 29, 2016, the eve of the 71st anniversary of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, I sat listening to a survivor of that horror recount his experience.

Edgar Harrell, a Marine aboard the USS Indianapolis during World War II, was speaking at Page and Palette bookstore in Fairhope, Alabama. I had purchased a signed copy of his new book about the ordeal, Out of the Depths, before we took our seats. But I had little idea of what I was about to hear.

After his introduction, Mr. Harrell, “Ed,” took the microphone and boomed out a greeting. His voice was surprisingly strong for a man who will be 92 on Oct. 10. He looked and moved like a man 20 years younger. He sported a red Marine ball cap with “USS Indianapolis” embroidered above the bill.

Ed didn’t waste any time getting into his story. After delivering a mysterious cargo to Tinian Island in the South Pacific, the ship headed, unprotected, to Guam and then to the Philippines.

Because of the suffocating heat on the night of July 29th, Capt. Charles McVay III allowed the crew to sleep on deck. Ed, fully clothed, lay down below one of the two forward gun turrets.

A few minutes past midnight, the first torpedo sheared away the bow of the ship. The second tore into the hull below the bridge. Few of the crew had brought their life vests to the deck, including Ed. As the ship listed, the crew scrambled to the upside rail. Amid the chaos, Ed asked a lieutenant if they could cut down the bags of new kapok life vests strung along a rope on the bulkhead.

“No,” he replied. “Not until we are given orders to abandon ship.” Then a wounded commander staggered on deck.

“Get a life vest for the Carol Megathlin (right) speaks with Edgar Harrell, a survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.

commander!” someone yelled.

When the rope was cut, Ed and others grabbed the vests.

As the ship’s list steepened, the captain’s “abandon ship” order had to be passed mouth to ear among the crew. Men began jumping into the oilslicked water of the night sea.

Ed hesitated, frightened by the dark water. “I had no idea what was under there,” he said.

“Then something I must have learned in Sunday School came into my head, like a loud voice. ‘I will not forsake you. Be not afraid, be not afraid!’” Ed shouted the last “be not afraid.” With those words pounding in his head, he jumped.

Some who managed to get off the ship were so badly wounded that they died within minutes. “Those big screws were up out of the water and still turning,” Ed said. “One of the fellas jumped right into one.”

Despite the 85 degree water temperature, the men began to shiver. “I was lucky,” Ed said. “I had on all my clothes. Most of them were wearing only their skivvies.”

Before the ship went down, an SOS had been radioed to the Philippines. Due to a number of factors, none of them defensible, the SOS was ignored. No rescue was launched.

The men formed small groups, linking up when they spotted one another. One group had put together a “raft” of two ammunition cans topped by slats from an orange crate. Several men clung to the sides of the crude structure.

As one day gave way to the next, the kapok vests became saturated, gradually losing buoyancy. The men slipped them off and put them under their bottoms, alleviating the need to constantly kick to keep their heads above water. As thirst grew and tongues swelled, some of Contributed photo

the men sipped seawater.

“You know what that does to you,” Ed said, circling his index finger near his temple. “One of the boys in our group started hallucinating. He suddenly screamed that one of the other boys was a ‘Jap” and went after him. Others thought they saw an oasis, a little island, and took off swimming for it.”

A rainstorm blew up, soaking the thirsty men with fresh water. They cupped their hands and opened their mouths skyward. Ed’s hands, coated with oil slime, tainted the fresh water he poured into his mouth. “Of course, my stomach didn’t like that kerosene taste, and up it came,” he chuckled.

The men were growing weak, sunburned, dehydrated, delirious. Ed spotted something floating in the distance and swam over to investigate it.

HARRELL