Stranded in Shark Infested Waters - Part 1Stranded in Shark Infested Waters - Part 2Stranded in Shark Infested Waters - Part 3Stranded in Shark Infested Waters - Part 4FamilyLife Today® Radio TranscriptReferences to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete. Out of the Depths Day 3 of 4 Guest: Ed Harrell From the Series: Survival in the South Pacific ________________________________________________________________ Bob: Sixty years ago this week, Ed Harrell was one of a few hundred men floating in the Pacific following the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. In the four days that he was afloat, Ed saw some of his fellow sailors drift away from the group to be eaten by sharks. Some who tried to swim toward an imaginary shore who never came back. For Ed, the memories are vivid. Ed: I can see it today, and I think maybe I'd like to look at it and say that the Lord reminds me, even today, of those incidents, and as He reminds me of those, then they help to strengthen my faith and my resolve to live a life for Him today. Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Wednesday, August 3rd. Our host is the president of FamilyLife, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. Where did Ed Harrell's hope come from when it appeared all reason for hope was gone? Stay with us. And welcome to FamilyLife Today, thanks for joining us. You know, we've heard a story this week, Dennis, about a ship under attack. And then we've heard about the ongoing horror and terror of living in the middle of the ocean, bundled up with your buddies, hooked with your lifejackets to one another as the sharks encircle you in the waters and wondering, "Does anyone even know we're out here or will we die at sea?" No food, no fresh water except for a thundercloud that comes by and gives you a little bit of a rain shower. You hear a story like this, and you wonder where does the will to survive in the midst of that come from? I think of myself and think, "When would I just lay my head back and say, "Okay, I'm ready to die. I'd rather do that than keep living like this." Dennis: Yes, in fact, there's a story that Ed Harrell, who joins us again on FamilyLife Today. Ed, welcome back to the broadcast. Ed: Thank you. Dennis: There's a story you tell, Ed, of a Marine buddy who was ready to do the very thing Bob was talking about. He was ready to quit, and you kind of – the picture I had from reading your book was you kind of grabbed him by the life jacket and looked him in the eyes, and you gave him a reason to believe. Ed: I pretty much gave him an ultimatum, really, in that he had tried to convince me that he was going to commit suicide. He'd gone into the water head first and all of that oil in his eyes and then, you know, you can imagine – you take your hand, and you try to rub that oil out, but the more you rub your eye, you're rubbing salt in, and you're kind of taking that salt that's in the water, you're grinding your eyeballs with that. And then the sun then, you know, beaming off of that water, then through the daytime. By the second day, Spooner was determined that he was going to commit suicide, and he mentioned that two or three times. Anyway, I recall that I just got ahold of Spooner, and I turned him to me, and I kind of looked him squarely in the eye, and I said, "Spooner, there's only two of we Marines out here, and whenever a sailor is gone, there's still going to be two Marines, and you're going to be one of them with me," and I kind of turned him to me, and I fashioned – hooked his lifejacket then onto mine, and I swam with him then through that night, and then – it was sometime then the third morning that he wanted me to release him, and he made a vow to me that he would fight for life as long as there was breath in him because of him being able to survive as long as he had through that night, and I released him, then, the next day. Bob: You and some 300 of your shipmates survived in the waters in the Pacific from the time that your boat was attacked just after midnight on the 30th of July in 1945 when the Indianapolis went under in about 15 minutes. You survived for a period of, what was it, four days, five days? Ed: It was four-and-a-half days, yes. Bob: And you survived that, as you've already shared with us this week, there was – was it just a single rain shower that passed over that gave you a little bit of water? Ed: Right, that's all the rain that we had the whole time I was out there, that's right. Bob: So you're in salt water, you had a few tablespoons of fresh water ...
