They had watched 63 of their comrades die, one by one, over three days. Some were killed in shark attacks, some succumbed to deadly injury and others died of thirst and hunger. It was their third day stranded in the Philippine Sea. There were 17 of their group left.
“There are times that you pray … and there are times that you pray. And there is a difference,” said Edgar Harrell, one of the survivors. “Can you imagine looking out on the horizon and seeing a little cloud, and it gets closer and closer, and then can you imagine … it was raining, it was raining …”
Harrell's voice shook with emotion Sunday as he retold his story for what could have been the thousandth time. It's been more than 50 years since a Japanese submarine torpedoed and sank his ship, the USS Indianapolis, two weeks before the end of World War II. But time has not diminished his emotions.
“The largest casualty at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy is the sinking of the Indianapolis,” he said in a speech at the Slater Community Center. “There are 71 of us still living as of Monday this week.”
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