Tonight, I'll See USS Indianapolis Survivor Edgar Harrell-- Part 1

From the April 9, 2014, Hi-liter.

n just a few hours, I will be at the Chain of Lakes Community Bible Church where USS Indianapolis survivor Edgar Harrell will be speaking at 7 PM.  The church is located at 43 W. Grasslake Road, Lake Villa.

"Former U.S. Marine Edgar Harrell, survivor, tells the tragic story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis on July 30, 1945.  The sinking of the Heavy Cruiser Indianapolis was the largest casualty at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy.  It sank in about 12 minutes.

Eight hundred and eighty of the 1,197 aboard did not survive the sinking.  Only 317 survived the four-and-a-half days in the shark infested waters.

The Indianapolis had just made a record speed run from San Francisco to a B-29 base on the Island of Tinian, in the Marianas.  The cargo aboard was the components of the Atomic Bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.  Twenty-six days from the time the cargo was loaded aboard the Indianapolis, the war was over, the Japanese were aboard the Missouri.

Gre-Gen