USS Indianapolis Survivor Edgar Harrell-- Part 5

The talk by Mr. Harrell began at 7 PM April 30, 2014, at the Chain of Lakes Bible Church on Grasslake Road in Lake Villa, Illinois.  I found out after the presentation that he had been on the Moody Bible Institute radio station earlier in the morning and that the next day he had another presentation elsewhere in the Chicagoland area.

I was glad I came thirty minutes later because the place was filling up rapidly.  By the time he started, all 500 or so seats in the place were filled, people standing along the back walls and even an overflow crowd in the adjacent gymnasium watching on a large screen.

I was especially encouraged to see a large number of younger people in attendance, plus, there was a sizable contingent from Great Lakes in Chicago, the Navy's only training base.  A Lt.Cmdr. sat next to me with his son and had a plaque to present Mr. Harrell showing his training command in front of the USS Indianapolis Pool.  Each year, all 44,000 recruits have to show that they can swim in this pool, so, for many, it is their first introduction to that ship.  Great Lakes is the only naval recruit training center.

The lt.cmdr. told me that there were just 37 Indianapolis survivors still alive and, last month, I found out that the youngest sailor on the ship had just died earlier in April.    He said that George Stockton, who was on board the USS Register which had rescued some of the survivors, had just died last year.

--GreGen