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

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

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