Bon,

I spent many, many hours with Woody James (Jim's best friend on the ship, in the water, and for the rest of his life).  He talked nonstop about Jim and he fully credited him with saving his life.  He could hardly talk about it without choking up every time. 

If you watch the Discovery Channel's "Ocean of Fear" (which just aired but will play again 3 more times this week - listings are on the site - discovery.com), they did a great job of portraying the friendship between these two men.

I cried with Woody one day as he spoke about Jim rescuing him - I told him that I wish I had been able to meet his precious friend before he had passed away.  Within 2 months of my saying that, Woody was killed in a car crash.

Honor these men while they are alive and never forget them when they are gone.

Kim

-- Edited by ww2kim at 01:39, 2007-07-30

Dear Kim, Thank you for your note about Jim Newhall. I saw Ocean of Fear last night, prior to the show starting I told my husband that we had a family friend that survied that ship wreck. My folks had told me Big Jim was a hero, I didnt know how much of a hero till last night. I knew Big Jim as a kind and gentle man that really liked us kids. Some of my fondest memories of him was going over to his farm when the potatoes were coming out of the ground and into the packing shed. Big Jim would pull some off the conver belt and cut them up and we would share a great raw potato and also the BBQ's at my parents dairy. I was just 6 when we left the dairy, so Jim seemed like a giant of a man to me. Dont know if he was called Big Jim because of his stature, or because there was a Little Jim a few years older than I was. I look foward to visiting with my parents and asking more about Big Jim. Bonni

I would have considered it an honor and privilege to meet either of these men. They will forever be in my thoughts :)

Thank you for your kind words about Jim Newhall on the Indianapolis survivor's website. 

Jim was an amazing man whose life could never be summed up in a few short sentences.  When I look back over his life, I remember how humble, generous, and selfless he was.  It wasn't until after he passed away that I learned how many lives he changed for the better while he was with us.  He quite literally spent his entire life rescuing people.

Jim and my mother came together as a family when I was 7 years old.  He rescued my mother and her three daughters from a dangerous situation and loved us dearly until his passing.  

Jim never spoke about his service on the Indianapolis with me. As a young girl, I thought his silence on the topic was because he wanted to spare me the horrible details of war.  As an adult, I realize that he didn't share his war experiences with most people because he was incredibly humble. 

I knew almost nothing about the Indianapolis when I attended my first survivor's reunion at the age of 15.  While walking through the hotel lobby a man stopped me to introduce himself and his two young children to me.  He told his kids, "This girl is Jim Newhall's daughter.  Her daddy saved my life.  If it weren't for him, the two of you wouldn't be here today."  I was speechless.  I had no idea that Jim had been crediting with saving anyone.  

About 5 years ago a friend bought me a book to read while I traveled on a long flight.  It was a book about the Indianapolis.  I had read about half the book by the time I boarded the plane for my return flight home.  I remember sitting on the runway at Dulles Airport waiting for the plane to take off when I turned the page and say Jim's name.  The next couple of paragraphs described details of how he had helped free a man who was trapped below deck.  The man was quoted as saying that Jim was the reason he didn't die that night.  The man quoted in the book was not the same man that introduced himself to me years earlier in the hotel lobby.  I sat there stunned, reading that section of the book over and over again.  I realized that Jim had helped rescue two men from the ship before it sank and he never shared either story with me.  Jim was truly the most humble man I ever knew.

I was one of the first to arrive at the chapel on the day of Jim's memorial service.  I sat at the front of the chapel and starred straight ahead, trying not to cry.  I was so focused on trying not to cry that I didn't hear the rustling of people as they entered and sat down.  After a few minutes my sister tugged on my arm and motioned for me to turn around.  The chapel seats were full, people were standing in the aisles, in the church lobby, and down the front steps of the church.  To this day I've never seen so many people at a memorial service.  When the service was over, people lingered so that they could express to members of Jim's family what Jim meant to them.  I lost track of the number of people who told me Jim loaned them money and never asked for them to pay it back,  how they called him in the middle of the night to help them repair a broken down vehicle, plumbing emergency, etc.  Name any problem and Jim helped someone resolve it.  That was when I realized that Jim had spent his entire life rescuing others and he never sought any recognition for his good deeds.

God truly blessed me with an amazing "earthly" father when He placed my life in Jim's loving hands.

When you think of Jim, please praise our Heavenly Father for creating someone as amazing as Jim and for rescuing him from the Pacific Ocean.  Jim survived the shipwreck solely by the grace of God.  If Jim had not survived the shipwreck, countless other lives, over the years, would not have been saved by Jim.

-- Edited by GoPrayZ at 22:23, 2007-08-21

-- Edited by GoPrayZ at 22:24, 2007-08-21

To Jim Newhall's daughter-
I am wiping away tears as I read your post.  My father is also a Survivor and he was the same as Jim.   He dedicated the rest of his life to helping people.   Professionally, he was a Firefighter and saved many lives, but in the community as a father, family member, friend, neighbor, etc he did more to help people than you can imagine - much like you describe Jim.   My dad was the one that people would call and knew he would always come to their rescue - never said "no".  

Surviving the ordeal seemed to have such an incredible impact on the men.  You would think they might have been bitter - questioned fate.  But from what I have witnessed, it was just the opposite.   They are the most humble group of men that you will ever meet.  They always seemed to view the men that didn't survive as the heroes and approached the rest of their lives realizing their lives were spared for a reason, and they lived for that.

If the world were all more like these men, we'd live in a better place!

How incredibly lucky we are to have had these men touch our lives!   It is so vitally important that we all work together to honor these men and work together to keep the memory of the story & its heroic men alive for generations to come.  

Thank you ladies for sharing memories of your Fathers, they truly are Heros'. I would love to hear more about the man I knew as Big Jim. I do thank our Heavenly Father for Jim and others like him. We may not have known them all personally, but their lives impacted those around them and it is like the pebble in the pond....... Blessing to you, Bonni

GoPrayZ- Everything you said goes right along with how Woody talked about your Dad.  What a tremendous man.  If anything could bring big, burly, 6'4" (or taller? He was TALL) Woody to tears, it was talking about Jim Newhall.  He missed him terribly.

Thank you for posting such a touching recollection.  I, too, am dabbing my eyes. 

I'm so happy, though, to think of your Dad and Woody spending time together again now.

The rest of us should learn from the examples of the Indy survivors - We should HELP each other and live our lives in service.  If you see someone struggling and in need of rescuing, be that lifesaver.  Just like they were... in the water, and in life.