“Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”
Matthew 14:27 NCV
When that command was issued more than twenty centuries ago, it was to a group of fearful men in peril on a dark and dangerous sea. No exhortation is more appropriate to this chronicle than those words of Jesus Christ.
Shortly after midnight on July 30, 1945, just weeks before the end of World War II, the Japanese submarine I-58 launched a spread of torpedoes at the USS Indianapolis. Two of the “fish” found their mark. In less than fifteen minutes, the heavy cruiser—a battle-scarred veteran of the bloody campaigns for the Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa—went down without a trace, and without anyone but the survivors knowing the ship had been lost.
Some nine hundred of the ship’s 1,196-man crew—cold, oil soaked, many with injuries—were suddenly alone in the shark-infested waters of the Philippine Sea. For five horrific days after the sinking, their numbers were cruelly depleted by shark attacks, saltwater poisoning, hypothermia, and dehydration. When they were finally spotted and rescued, only 317 remained alive. This is their story, recounted by one of their own—Edgar Harrell—a young member of the ship’s U.S. Marine detachment. It is an unparalleled account of perseverance, courage, self-sacrifice, and faith.
It has been a great blessing to spend most of my life in the company of heroes. By “hero” I mean a person who has wittingly put himself in grave physical jeopardy for the benefit of another. Heroes are people who overcome evil by doing good at great personal risk. Through self-sacrifice, fortitude, and action, whether they succeed or fail, heroes provide a moral and ethical framework—and inspiration—for the rest of us.
Unfortunately, our modern definition of hero has been stretched to include all manner of people. The athlete who just set a new sports record isn’t a hero. Nor is the “daring” movie star or even the adventurer out to be the first solo climber to scale Mount Everest. They may be brave—but they don’t meet the definition of a hero, for whatever they achieve benefits only themselves.
Real heroes are selfless. My father was one. Many of the Marines with whom I was privileged to serve for nearly a quarter of a century were heroes. The firemen and police who rushed into the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon on 9/11 fit the description. Today, a good number of young soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Guardsmen that I cover for FOX News certainly meet the criteria. And Edgar Harrell, survivor of the catastrophic sinking of the USS Indianapolis, is a hero.
The true story that Edgar Harrell and his son, David, recount in the pages that follow is far more than a tale of terror on the sea. Together, they have prepared a timely and relevant work for a new generation of Americans once again confronting an enemy that teaches young men not how to live, but how to die the right way. The kamikaze pilot who crashed his plane into the Indianapolis on March 31, 1945, differs little from the nineteen terrorists of 9/11 or the suicide car-bombers trying to kill U.S. soldiers and Marines today in the Middle East.
All of that, and much more, is in this book. It is a gripping tale of men tested beyond anything they thought possible—and how they responded with bravery, endurance, and faith in the face of fear and overwhelming despair. Edgar Harrell is not the only hero in this book. But his faith is a testament to the Marine Corps motto: Semper Fidelis—Latin for “always faithful.”
Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, USMC (Ret.) Host of War Stories FOX News Channel