(dramatic music)
- Thanks for joining usfor CBN's On The Homefront,
where we highlight what the men and women
of America's military doto defend our country.
I'm Mark Martin.
Every year, militaryfamilies across North America
look forward to one of theirfavorite events, the air show.
The F-35 demonstrationteam is prepared and ready
to perform at more than a dozen airshows
around the United States and Canada.
(piano riff)
- [Airman] Out on the rampyesterday, I was actually
literally walking around, whatprobably looked like pacing,
but kind of stepping through the routine
that we're gonna fly, the mental part,
just getting yourself focusedto go out there and do it.
At this point, it's kind oflike a robotic operation.
We're just gonna go out andexecute exactly like we trained.
We're gonna do the exact samething that we've been doing
for the entire training season.
Kind of, tune ups are over.
It's not just rinse and repeat.
(bright music)
(sighs)
- It doesn't feel likethe circ, just feels like,
we're just about to go doanother ride, you know?
- Cool, let's do this, man.- Yeah, man.
- [Airman] This team'sgonna be around for decades.
People that are on theteam in subsequent years
are gonna look back tothe stuff that we did
to set the groundwork and theframework for how this team
exists for the next,you know, 20, 30 years.
It's official, you know,we are the F-35 demo team,
and we are certified nowto go perform this thing,
in front of millions of audiences
all over the world for decades to come.
That historic moment issomething that I never
thought I would be a small part of.
- For many in the military,physical readiness
is one of the most important tasks,
and staying in shape will help them
better complete their mission.
But for Army Major April Moore,she also uses her workouts
as a way to clear hermind and stay resilient
during her deployment toBagram Airfield, Afghanistan.
(calming music)
- [April] You can't deny the physiological
benefits of working out.
You get up in the morning and you
punish your body to perfect your soul.
And I do honestly believe and I know,
because I feel it everyday, that working out,
and testing your limits,and getting beyond those
really does kind of makeyou a better person.
What I would say really kinda
defines my job is putting out fires.
So I walk into each and every day
and I really never knowwhat I'm gonna be facing,
I never know what challengesare gonna be presented to me,
but what I do know is,when I go into the gym,
or when I go for a run,I can control that,
and I can also mentally workthrough any sort of challenges
in my head while I'm doingit, and it really just helps
kind of refocus me, it makes me sharper,
makes me feel like I can respond quicker.
If I don't work outeveryday prior to coming
and taking on this job, I just don't feel
like I'm ready for thechallenges I might have to face.
I think there's a difference between
working out and being an athlete.
When you work out, you're doinggreat things for your body,
you're doing great things for your mind,
but you're kinda trotting along.
Being an athlete isunderstanding that there
is an excellence quotient to it, right?
It's not just about workingout, it's about going in there,
getting after it, andbeing just a little bit
better than you were the day before.
It's setting those goals,understanding your limitations,
and being willing anddaring to get beyond it.
- Tennessee Marine EdgarHarrell is one of only 300 men
who survived the sinkingof the USS Indianapolis,
one of the worst maritimedisasters in American history.
Harrell is the only livingMarine survivor today.
Last summer, 74 years later, he received
an honorary promotionto the rank of Sergeant.
I had the chance to speak with him
years ago as he shared his story.
On a small farm in Kentucky, Edgar Harrell
heard about the war inthe Pacific on the radio.
After listening to reports of marines
losing their lives, he wanted to help.
- I thought, you know, I'm 18 years old,
and I'd already registered for the draft,
and I thought, now I don'twant to wait and be drafted,
I want to get in the Marine Corp.
- [Mark] The heavy cruiser,
the USS Indianapolis, became his home.
- [Edgar] When I sawthat big Indianapolis,
you knew, you couldn'timagine the country boy,
what he thought of that.
- [Mark] Harrell sawfierce combat on the ship,
events that shook him to the core.
The 91-year-old vividlyrecalls one harrowing incident,
when a Japanese kamikaze plane struck
the Indianapolis inthe battle for Okinawa.
(explosions)
- I can remember, seeing that plane,
thinking that life is over,this is the end of life,
because he's diving for the fantail.
- [Mark] Harrell survived that attack,
but nine of his shipmates did not.
The Indianapolis had to returnto the States for repairs.
Eventually it left San Francisco Bay,
heading back to the South Pacific,
on what would be its final mission.
Onboard, important componentsof the atomic bombs
that would be dropped onHiroshima and Nagasaki.
Crew members unloaded thewar-ending cargo at Tinian Island.
Harrell says their next assignment was
to head to the Philippines to prepare
for the main invasion of Japan.
- Captain McVay asked for an escort,
and they tell him, youdon't need an escort.
Well, may I say, they werenot telling the truth.
They could have said, you need an escort.
Why? Because four days before,
we lost a destroyer, the USS Underhill.
We lost 129 boys, and we wereto go through that very area.
- [Mark] Why Navy leadersmade that decision,
Harrell says, remains a mystery.
And that brings us to July 30th, 1945.
A Japanese submarinespots the Indianapolis
in the Philippine Sea, andfires a spread of torpedoes.
Two hit their mark, and in less
than 15 minutes, the ship goes down.
Around 900 of the nearly1200 man crew who survived
the initial attack, findthemselves oil-soaked,
many with injuries, clingingto kapok life jackets
in the shark-infested waters.
- And I thought of mom and dad back home,
I thought of six younger brothers,
an older sister and a younger sister,
and I thought of a certain brunette
that said that she would wait for me.
And I tell the Lord, I don'twanna die, I wanna live.
- [Mark] Harrell, who was 20 at the time,
says he began to think of scriptures.
- I'll never leave you, nor forsake you,
seemingly that came tomind, no audible voice,
but I knew that theLord was speaking to me.
Lord, you're speaking to myheart, I'm gonna make it.
Well I didn't know I'm gonna be out
there four and a half days.
- [Mark] Four and a halfdays of unbelievable horror.
No food, no water, and yet surrounded
by water in all directions,along with sharks.
He says shipmates not in their right mind,
some because they wereinjured, others because
they drank salt water,began to hallucinate.
- He leaves the group andhe gets out 50, 75 yards,
and you hear a bloodcurdling scream,
and you see that kapok go under,and then like a fish cork,
then that kapok brings that body back up,
but by now all the blood andmore, more sharks, more fins,
and they are calmly glidingover what was there.
- [Mark] Despite witnessingscenes like that,
Harrell refused to give up hope.
He believes God directed himand several of his buddies
to a crate of rotten potatoes.
The hearts of the potatoeswere still edible.
He also believes Godsent a small raincloud
one day to providedesperately needed water.
- So what do you do? Thank you, Lord!
Thank you Lord, thank you!
And that little raincloudcomes over and you get
a few drops, maybe a fewtablespoons full of water.
- [Mark] The brutalconditions took their toll.
The number of sailors and marines
dwindled down to a little more than 300.
Finally, a plane flew overthe area low to the water.
A miracle because the pilot,Lieutenant Wilbur Gwinn,
wasn't looking for the survivors,
he did not even know theywere missing, no one did.
- Lieutenant Gwinn goes aft,he opens the bombay door,
and in just a flash, helooks down at the ocean below
and what he saw was an oil slick.
- Flying even lower, Gwinn,who they called Angel,
sees debris, sharks, andsharks attacking survivors.
He radios for help, andeventually 317 crew members
of the USS Indianapolisare pulled from the water.
Harrell spent months inhospitals, recovering.
After everything Harrell went through,
it's easy to see whyhe's a decorated Marine.
He was even awarded the Purple Heart.
Here is the letter dated August 13, 1945.
The Purple Heart is awardedby the Medical Officer
in command to Edgar Alvin Harrell,
for wounds received inaction against an enemy
of the United States on July 30th, 1945.
He went on to marry Ola, thebrunette who waited for him.
Harrell shares his storyof God's providence
at schools and churches.
He calls it a ministry.
He and his son David alsochronicle the unforgettable story
in a new book, Out of the Depths.
- There's not a day that goesby, many, many times a day,
I just look up and say, thank you, Lord.
- Coming up, how CBN is stepping in
to help a military family in need.
(drum music)
Thanks for staying with On the Homefront.
CBN honors the men andwomen in our military
with an initiative calledHelping the Homefront.
It partners with churchesacross the country
to meet the needs oftheir military families.
From repairing homes toproviding financial support,
to wiping out medicalbills for wounded veterans.
Adam and Cassie are amilitary family who wanted
to be debt free, but soontheir car needed repairs
and bills came due, andthe only way they could pay
for everything was toput it on a credit card.
But thanks to Helping the Homefront,
they did not have to spend a dime.
(uplifting music)
- [Narrator] SecondClass Petty Officer Adam
is welder for the US Navy.
He enjoys opportunities toteach his kids about his job.
His wife Cassie loves his enthusiasm.
- I'm really proud of him.
Proud that he's good at his job
and that other people lookup to him and respect him.
- [Narrator] When they started a family,
they agreed Cassie wouldleave her full-time job
and stay at home, but still continue
taking college courses part-time.
Losing her paycheck washarder than expected.
Cassie's tuition was growingfaster than they could pay it.
- We're one income andwe're a family of five,
and it's hard to find room
in our budget to become debt free.
- [Narrator] Finances got even tighter
when they had to fixthe brakes on their van
in the same month they needed new tires.
Then Cassie's stepmom wasdiagnosed with cancer,
and asked if they would come visit
before her treatment started.
The only way to pay for thetrip was with a credit card.
- She wanted to see her grandchildren,
and so we made thatdecision to go up there and,
it was in the back of my mind,
you know, we don't have money for this.
- [Narrator] When Adam andCassie's church, Grace Bible,
heard the couple washaving a financial setback,
they asked CBN's Helping theHomefront to get involved.
Pastor Neal McCullohs came byto deliver some welcome news.
- CBN wants to help you tocontinue to get out of debt.
- [Narrator] Neal toldthe couple CBN was paying
for the brakes, tires, and thebalance of Cassie's tuition.
- Like, I can't process that right now.
- But that's not all.
You know, you just hada significant expense
to go see your stepmom,another couple thousand dollars
to go do that, and theywanna pay for that.
- This feels like it's sucha blessing and you know,
we don't do anything to deserve that,
that love that He gives us.
- I'm lost for words as I've been
most of the day, but even more now.
- [Narrator] This militaryfamily can now concentrate
on building savings for a secure future.
- Thank you to Helping Homefront,
it's just a great thing that you guys do.
- Up next, how one sailor spends his days
in the Navy when he's goneto sea for months at a time.
Maxwell Holmes has aunique military journey.
This sailor is also a musician,and spends a lot of his time
on the flight deckserenading his shipmates.
But life about the ship doesn't always
sing swimmingly, take a look.
(audience cheering)
- (laughs) Oh, I never really thought
I could sing, to be honest with you.
So when I first would play,people just loved it, you know.
And at first I just thought,man, y'all are friends,
like whatever, just tellme what I wanna hear.
There was nothing like thefirst time somebody was like,
yeah, your song's stuck in my head,
to hear that, it's amazing.
♪ So far from land, so far from you ♪
Yeah, I think my wholelife I've always been
inclined to just loving music a lot.
Picking up guitar was when it really,
things kinda started to click into place,
I just remember hearing the strings
and the sound of it wasjust the most beautiful;
even when I didn't play a chord to it,
it was just an open strum,just blew my mind away.
I had just picked up guitar like,
I think a year before Ishipped out to boot camp.
I got really curious asto what the experience
in the Navy could kinda do do my art.
♪ Save my soul from the ocean ♪
So to be out to sea,phew, where do you start?
It was scary but it was exciting.
Working on the flight deck,it's super dangerous (laughs).
It's crazy, when we first started
I was like, how is this even possible?
How do people do this?
You know what I mean?No less than six months.
I never in my life thought I would be able
to do something like that.
The day would be so hard, and so long,
that it wasn't like Iwas really forcing myself
to play guitar, I was likeI need to play guitar.
This is a chaotic place, and this guitar
is guiding me through the tornado.
(guitar music)
To look out and like not see anything,
straight water lines,waves, no land, no anything,
that played a lot intosongwriting because, you know,
Stephen King alwayssays that when you first
write something, to writewith the door closed.
And so to be out to sea, andto not have just anything
around, no pop culture, no Twitter,
no anything distracting you like that,
was a huge, huge influence for me.
♪ My heart doesn't need ♪
A lot of these songs areabout being far away,
being out to see, being distant,missing your loved ones,
and that's just life, that's this story,
it's a hard job, it's a hard situation,
to have songs that reflectthat, or emulate that,
was really helpful fora lot of people up here.
How many of y'all are ready to go home?
I'm ready to go home.
(audience cheering)
Ain't y'all ready to go home?
I'm ready to go home.
I've grown a lot as a person.
I've seen a lot, I've experienced a lot.
I think as an artist, I'ma lot more confident now,
'cause before I was in theNavy, I was very insecure,
even when I joined, I wasvery insecure about my music,
I didn't think it was that good,
I didn't think people really cared.
But that's one thing I candefinitely say about this boat,
is that there's a lot of people here,
a lot of close friends, thatreally push me, I think.
To have that many people pushing for you,
believing in you like that,
it's a very humbling thing, you know?
♪ Seen the highest of my highest ♪
♪ And the lowest of my lowest ♪
Just deployment has definitely molded me
and matured me a lot as a person.
They definitely have beenthe hardest six months
of my entire life, hands down.
I've never experiencedmentally, emotionally,
the things that I've experiencedout to sea like this.
But then I've had chancesto do with my music
that I would not have hadif I weren't on deployment.
(guitar music)
I think more thananything, what I've learned
is you need to embrace who you are.
The cool thing about theNavy is that you're exposed
to a lot of different people, you know.
You're exposed to a lotof different cultures.
You meet all these different people
and you kind of take fromthem, pull from them,
but at the same time yousort of realize who you are
as a person in the process,and I think being around
that for so long hasjust allowed me to really
just be myself, I knowwho I am as a person,
I know who I am as a man, as an artist,
and I'm very, very happy and blessed
for the experience, I think.
So very excited for the new year,
and just everythingthat's about to happen.
(laughter)
- Don't go anywhere, we'llbe back right after this.
Welcome back to On the Homefront.
They sacrifice theirlives for our country,
but often they can't even afford
a place to live when they come home.
That's the hard reality for many
of our vets and their families.
But one organization isworking to make a difference.
Talia Wise brings us that story.
- Our military simply goes and serves
our country, no questions asked.
They often don't know when they
will return, or even if they will.
Many times the journeyhome is hard to navigate.
That's why one organization is looking to
make the transition backhome a little easier.
Operation Finally Home isa nonprofit that provides
custom homes, mortgage free, to members
of the military and their families.
- This will be your place.(laughter)
- (Talia) And it's an effortthat is changing lives.
- There's no better way toprovide the foundation of hope
that comes with a home for healing
spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
- [Talia] OperationFinally Home is allowing
the local community to come together
and provide our veterans agift of security and safety.
Home builders are even encouraged to leave
a personal note to thenew military homeowners.
- It allows that veteran tofeel like they're coming home.
To see those notes ofthanks, the scripture
that's on the wall, theyknow that they're surrounded
by love and support in that community,
that we care for our veterans deeply.
- [Talia] This organization is supporting
our heroes by restoring and rebuilding
their lives where it matters most.
- They can't focus ontheir physical healing,
their emotional healing,their spiritual healing,
without having these homes,and once they are provided,
it gives them the opportunityto deal with those,
and to grow, and to prosper.
- So far, OperationFinally Home has helped
more than 250 families in the US,
and they're working to serve many more.
Well that's CBN good news.
I'm Talia Wise, until next time,
make time to spread alittle bit of good news.
- That's all for today.
In the meantime, you can find more
of our exclusive coverage at cbnnews.com.
Hope you'll join us nexttime, have a great day.
