JOELTON, Tenn. (BP)--Ask Edgar Harrell enough questions, and he can relive the horrific moments he experienced 64 years ago during World War II, floating helplessly for more than four days in the Pacific Ocean, corpses all around.
Friends eaten by sharks. Shipmates suffering slow and excruciating deaths after drinking ocean water. Men hallucinating due to fatigue, thirst and hunger. But instead of seeing only tragedy, Harrell -- who became a Christian some two years before his brush with death -- sees the grace of God. "He was my mainstay the whole time," he told Baptist Press. He lost about 27 pounds during those four and a half days in the cold open waters -- as he puts it -- "swimming with the sharks." Harrell and his U.S.S. Indianapolis shipmates weren't wanting to make history in such a way that summer in the final weeks of World War II, but they did. Four days after delivering the parts for the atomic bomb to the western Pacific island of Tinian on July 26, 1945, the Indianapolis -- a battleship with a crew of nearly 1,200 on its way to the Philippines -- was hit by two Japanese submarine torpedoes just past midnight, splitting the ship in two and waking the sleeping sailors and Marines to the terrifying reality that their only hope for survival was to jump from the burning vessel into a black cold ocean. The ship sank in 12 minutes, and of the 1,196 originally on board, some 900 made it into the water. They assumed a rescue ship was on its way and would be there in the morning, but it wasn't. The distress signal didn't get out, or if it did, it wasn't received. Whatever the case, it wasn't until their fourth day in the water that they were spotted, by chance, by the pilot of a U.S. bombing plane on patrol. By then, hundreds more had died, leaving only 317 survivors, scattered over approximately one mile. Harrell was one of them. With dozens of books, a handful of documentaries and even a movie spotlighting it, the Indianapolis and its crew have carved a place in American history. Their story is the stuff of fiction. But Harrell lived it. He's witnessed things he'd rather forget, things most Americans only see in books or on television. "There's nothing to compare with what I experienced," he says, looking back on his life. Harrell's son David wrote a 2005 book, "Out of the Depths," in which he recounted his father's story. Oliver North penned the foreword. A retired distributor for a window company, the elder Harrell, 84, remains in good health and travels the country speaking to churches and veterans organizations about his experience. Amazingly, Harrell says he's never had a nightmare about the ordeal. "And yet, I talk to many of my survivor buddies who say it still haunts them today," said Harrell, a former member of First Baptist Church in Paris, Tenn., who now is a member ... Read More
SEOUL, South Korea (BP)--Chaplain (Major) Ed Choi understands the reality of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Deployed as a U.S. Army chaplain in Iraq for tours of duty in 2004-05 and 2006-07, Choi lost more than 30 soldiers and conducted 18 memorial services. He returned from combat burnt out, angry and frustrated.
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ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)--"People are going to die tonight." Not quite the first words most congregations want to hear from their pastor. But that is what David Uth said as an introduction to "Not Ashamed," a three-service celebration of baptism at First Baptist Church in Orlando, Fla., June 27-28....
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Chris Plekenpol FIRST-PERSON: Unwanted fireworks on the Fourth
DALLAS (BP)--The Fourth of July always brings memories of war for me. Fireworks remind me of an arcing transformer sending electric ash to the ground.
Sara Horn FIRST-PERSON: Pray for our military this summer
SPRING HILL, Tenn. (BP)--In 2003, I was given the opportunity to travel to the Middle East twice to report for Baptist Press about the faith of sailors and soldiers that I came into contact with.
Kelly Boggs FIRST-PERSON: Examining celebrity worship
ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--With the recent death of Michael Jackson, the phenomenon of celebrity worship is on display in all of its strange glory.
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