Retired Marine Edgar Harrell has recounted how he had miraculously survived when the USS Indianapolis sank after it was torpedoed by Japanese forces during World War II.
Harrell registered for the draft when he was 18 years old and was eventually assigned to the USS Indianapolis, which was soon tasked with a secret mission to the South Pacific to deliver components of the atomic bombs that would be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The ship was able to deliver the components at Tinian island, but it was later struck by two torpedoes fired by a Japanese submarine in the Philippine sea on July 30, 1945. The Indianapolis sank in less than 15 minutes with around 300 sailors going down with the ship. Hundreds survived the initial sinking only to die of dehydration, sea water poisoning and shark attacks as they waited to be rescued.
In a recent interview with CBN News, Harrell says that he thought of his family and his faith as he desperately tried to survive. "I thought of mom and dad back home; I thought of six younger brothers, an older sister and a younger sister, and I thought of this certain brunette that said that she would wait for me. And I told the Lord, 'I don't want to die; I want to live!'" he told CBN News.
He shares how hope of survival stirred in him when he thought of the Scriptures.
"'I'll never leave you nor forsake you,'" he said quoting the verse that came to him from Joshua 1 in the Bible as he floated in the ocean. "Seemingly that came to mind, no audible voice, but I knew that the Lord was speaking to me. 'Lord, You're speaking to my heart. I'm going to make it.' Well, I didn't know I'm going to be out there four and a half days," he added.
Of the 900 crew members who survived the sinking of the vessel, only around 300 survived the shark attacks and horrific conditions in the water.
Harrell refused to give up and even believes that God guided him and some other sailors to a crate of rotten potatoes that were still edible. He also believed that a rain cloud that provided them with much needed drinking water was sent by God.
The surviving crew members were eventually rescued after four and a half days when a plane flew low over the area.
Harrell believes that the rescue was also a miracle because the pilot, Lieutenant Wilbur Gwinn, was apparently not even looking for survivors at the time.
The veteran continues to share his story at schools and churches, and collaborated with his son, David, on his memoirs "Out of the Depths."
