USS Indianapolis survivor finds closure
His comrades were young men when they were lost. Seventy-two years later, they’re found. That’s how Edgar Harrell sees it, and he’s ecstatic.
“When I heard the news, I think it was Saturday, I said, ‘We’ve been waiting for this a long time, and now we’ve got closure to the saga, and for that, praise the Lord.’ ”
Harrell, 92, of Clarksville, Tenn., had been one of 1,200 crew members on the USS Indianapolis in World War II.
The 600-foot Navy cruiser is historically significant for delivering components of the first atomic bomb, but it’s best known for what happened next: On July 30, 1945, a Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into the Indianapolis, and it sank in 12 minutes.
Last weekend, researchers led by billionaire American businessman Paul Allen found the wreckage in 18,000 feet of water in the Philippine Sea.
Nine hundred crew members survived the sinking and went into the sea. Many didn’t even have life jackets. Help did not come for four days. Men died of dehydration, and some were eaten by sharks.
About 300 sailors went down with the ship. It is to those men Harrell turns his thoughts.
“We now know the burial place of our shipmates,” he said. “It’s like the people aren’t lost anymore, they’re found, and that’s a comfort.”
The Indianapolis’ survivors have held reunions in the ship’s namesake city since 1960 on the anniversary of the sinking. Seven of the 18 crew members who are still alive attended the one last month.
For years, crewmen have talked among themselves about efforts to locate their sunken ship. Allen’s is at least the fourth try. Most recently, National Geographic searched for the wreck.
“We’ve prayed they’d find it for some time,” Harrell said.
When Harrell first saw photographs of the Indianapolis at the bottom of the sea, he wasn’t convinced. “They had a picture of an anchor,” he said, “but I thought, ‘ Other ships have anchors.’ Then I saw (the photograph) with the ‘35,’ and I knew that it was us, and I thought, ‘Well, at last.’ ”
The Indianapolis’ heavycruiser classification symbol, which appeared on its hull, was CA-35.