Edgar Alvin Harrell (1924 - 2021)

Born 10 Oct 1924 in Trigg, Kentucky, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Ola Mae Cathey — married 25 Jul 1947 in Murray, Calloway, Kentucky, United States

Died 8 May 2021 at age 96 in Clarksville, Montgomery, Tennessee, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Scott Fulkerson [send private message]

Biography

Edgar Harrell was awarded the Purple Heart.

Sergeant Edgar Harrell was a survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during World War II.

Edgar Harrell is a Military Veteran.
Served in the United States Marine Corps 1943-1945 attaining Corporal, later promoted to Sergeant
Served in World War II

Husband of Ola Mae Cathey

• Fact: Residence (1930) District 1, Trigg, Kentucky, United States
• Fact: Residence (1935) Same Place
• Fact: Residence (1940) Magisterial District 1, Trigg, Kentucky, United States
• Fact: Burial Murray, Calloway, Kentucky, United States
• Fact: http://familysearch.org/v1/LifeSketch

Early Years

Edgar Alvin Harrell was born in a small town near Golden Pond in rural Trigg County, Kentucky. His parents, Alvin Hollis Harrell and Myra Bell Atwood, were farmers and the family lived in a small home out in the country. Edgar was the firstborn son of the family, and the second child born in the family. Alvin and Myra would go on to have a total of 8 children between 1923 and 1939. Being one of the oldest children, Edgar was given a larger portion of responsibility for helping out around the farm.

By 1941, war had broken out and Edgar was almost of age to join the military. He was still in school and doing his best to concentrate on school and working on the farm while things like the war played on every movie screen and every news broadcast on the radio.

Enlistment in the Marines

By 1943, Edgar had decided he needed to enlist in the military, so by the fall, he went to the draft board and signed up for the U.S. Marines. His only regret was that he was unable to spend time with a certain Ola Mae Cathey, who had caught his eye. By the end of the year, he was off to Boot Camp, and following that Sea School. By March 1944, he was assigned to the Marine Guard on board the U.S.S. Indianapolis. This was a prestigious assignment and he was definitely excited to be there.

At first, it was duty as usual. Being the new guy, he received the worst bunks, the least favorable duties, and generally was looked down upon by most of the more veteran crew members. But he soon gained the respect of his fellow soldiers by hard work and staying out of trouble (for the most part), and soon encountered his first battle. He often manned the 40 mm anti-aircraft cannons and spent much of the battles firing as much non-stop as he could manage to defend the ship from enemy attacks.

Pacific Fleet Battles

Edgar accompanied the U.S.S. Indianapolis through numerous battles through 1944 and 1945. They attacked near the Western Carolines, the Palau Islands, Yap, Ulithi, and Woleai. All these attacks so early in his career helped teach him the ship battle drills and how to be prepared for anything. By June, they attacked the Mariana Islands, beginning with Saipan. As the enemy attempted to counterattack, forces were sent to meet the enemy vessels while others widened the attacks to include Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima, in the Bonin and Volcano Islands.

By mid-to-late June, they fought in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and destroyed a significant number of the remaining fleet of the Japanese. Following this battle, they returned to Saipan and Tinian to attack shore installations. They continued through the summer months, operating in the Marianas and the Western Carolines. That fall, they bombarded Peleliu and then went to Manus Island, finally returning to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California for refitting in the winter months.

In early 1945, they had completed their refitting and joined in an attack on Tokyo. They then sailed to the Bonin Islands to support the attacks on Iwo Jima. From here, they moved on to Okinawa. However, it was here in March 1945 that they failed to stop an enemy bomber who successfully dropped his payload onto the deck of the ship and then crashed his plane onto the deck as well. This left two huge holes in the the ship that needed repairs, so they had to return to the Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs.

Secret Mission - The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis

After their repairs, they were given a secret payload which was much later revealed to be enriched uranium and the parts for the atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy". Once assembled, this was the bomb that would eventually be dropped on Hiroshima. No one on board was told what they were carrying and steps were taken to prevent curious sailors from asking too many questions. The payload was delivered from Pearl Harbor to Tinian in record time, and the U.S.S. Indianapolis moved on to Guam, where they took on new personnel, and prepared to sail to Leyte.

In route to Leyte, on 30 July at 00:15 hours, the U.S.S. Indianapolis was struck by two torpedoes on her starboard side. Harrell was asleep when the second torpedo hit the middle of the ship, near the fuel tank. It was dark, the power knocked out by the explosion, but he could feel water flooding below deck. The only source of light was the fire.

Then he heard his captain from afar: “Abandon ship!”

The damage was so great, that the ship sank within 12 minutes. There were 1195 crewmen aboard ship, and to credit their training, all but 300 men managed to make it off the ship before it sank. However, many left the ship without life jackets, and very few lifeboats managed to be salvaged. One of Edgar's recurring and most terrible memories of the sinking was watching as the overturned ship began to pull beneath the waves and sailors were leaping from the ship, directly into the still moving screws, and there was no way to block out their awful screams.

Due to a Naval Command SNAFU, the ship was not reported missing, so it was three and half days before any plane happened to be in the area and spotted the survivors. By this time, the roughly 900 men who had managed to make it into the water had faced numerous challenges, including extensive exposure to seawater, exhaustion, starvation, dehydration, muscle cramps and fatigue, hypothermia, and vicious attacks by sharks. The seawater, once ingested, began to induce hallucinations in many of the crewmembers, who Edgar witnessed would sometimes just choose to sink beneath the waves and never surface.

Edgar spent much of his time floating with his fellow Marines and Sailors, trying to stay positive and not give in to fear, helping those that were struggling, and praying continuously for help to arrive. By the time the first plane spotted the survivors, over half of them had already succumbed to the treacherous waves or to the teeth of the sharks. It took a little time to assemble the vessels to recover the survivors, and by the time they were rescued, there were only 316 who were saved.

Rehabilitation

Edgar had survived one of the worst naval disasters in history, and was taken back to Guam for rehab. He was one of the lucky ones and had escaped any major injuries from the incident. However, he soon contracted a bad fever and was alarmed to find that he had a perforated appendix that needed emergency removal. They had to wait for the fever to reduce in order to perform the surgery, but fortunately everything worked out.

By September 1945, the war was officially over and the United States and her allies had won. But the cost was high. CPL Harrell was one of the nine Marines who survived the sinking of the cruiser USS Indianapolis. The U.S. decided to classify the sinking so that they would not impact morale, nor overshadow the announcement that Japan had surrendered. He had received a promotion to Sergeant on the ship, but since the paperwork went down with the ship, it had never been made official. He was too busy thanking God for his survival to be overly concerned about the loss of something as small as a stripe.

Post-War

When he returned home, he settled in to a home in Tennessee and found that Ola Mae had waited for him to come back. They married in July 1947 and went on to have 2 children together. After a few jobs, he landed a position with the Pella Glass company that allowed him to earn a good living. He became a minister and Bible teacher, spending time with Moody Bible College and Calvary Bible Church. While his initial time out of the military was difficult, he persevered through fears, challenges, nightmares, and personal struggles to become a man of God. His son gently encouraged his father to talk about it, and over time, he began relating the good times and the horrors he felt in the war.

As he became more comfortable with talking about his time at sea, the survivors decided they should meet and celebrate those who still lived. They had their first reunion in Indianapolis in 1960, and have continued meeting ever since. Edgar and his son David authored a book together to document his experiences and "Out of the Depths" was published in 2005. Sadly, his daughter Cathey passed away unexpectedly in 2013. In 2018, he was finally promoted to Sergeant, 73 years after the sinking of USS Indianapolis and that same year, the survivors were collectively awarded with a Congressional Gold Medal to commemorate their courage and ability to survive the incredibly harsh conditions that they faced in the sinking of their ship.

Passing of a Legend

In 2019, his beloved wife Ola Mae passed away at the age of 92. Edgar was certainly sad to lose his wife, but his faith held on to the fact that they would see each other again one day soon. He wouldn't have to wait for long, as he followed her into eternity in 2021. He was 96 years old and the last surviving Marine from the U.S.S. Indianapolis. They were buried side-by-side in the Murray Memorial Gardens in Murray, Kentucky.

Sources

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 12 May 2021, 01:26), entry for Edgar Alvin Harrell (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:G778-WLB ); contributed by various users.

• "Kentucky, Vital Record Indexes, 1911-1999," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKHP-P7ZD : 11 February 2018), Edgar A Harrell, 10 Oct 1924; citing Birth, Trigg, Kentucky, United States, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMFB-WBC : accessed 12 May 2021), Alvin Harrell Jr. in household of Alvin Harrell, District 1, Trigg, Kentucky, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 2, sheet 9A, line 10, family 178, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 778; FHL microfilm 2,340,513.

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7BM-KXT : 9 January 2021), Edgar A Harrell in household of Alvin Harrell, Magisterial District 1, Trigg, Kentucky, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 111-2, sheet 10B, line 61, family 186, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1358.

• "Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2DF-QGX3 : 9 March 2021), Edgar A Harrell and Ola Mae Cathey, 25 Jul 1947; citing Marriage, Murray, Calloway, Kentucky, United States, various county clerks and county courts, Kentucky; FHL microfilm 1,942,717.

• "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVG2-97TM : 2 July 2020), Edgar A Harrell, ; Burial, , ; citing record ID , Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

• "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:73BK-S3PZ : 16 December 2020), Edgar Alvin Harrell, ; Burial, Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, United States of America, U.S.S. Indianapolis National Memorial; citing record ID 194124974, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
• Six Kentuckians Surviving Sinking of Cruiser Decorated: "Newspapers.com"
  The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) Thu, Aug 16, 1945, page 7
  Newspapers Clip: 55441866 (accessed 11 January 2024)