Ship of Ghosts (73 page)

The location of the
Houston
’s wreck
: USS
Houston
(SSN-713), April 1993 track chart; see also navigation chart provided by Don Kehn Jr. “
I saw hundreds of unwounded men
…”: Harold S. Hamlin, “Statement,” 8. “
There is an adage at war colleges
…”: Albert H. Rooks, “Estimate of the Situation,” Section V, Paragraph (b). “
Evertsen
reports sea battle in progress
…”: Rear Adm. William A. Glassford to
Houston
, sent 28/2328. Reaching Fremantle were the gunboats USS
Tulsa, Lanakai
, and
Isabel
, and the minesweepers
Whippoorwill
and
Lark
. See Morison,
History of United States Naval Operations
, Vol. 3, 379.
The best treatment of the loss of USS
Edsall
and the mystery of her crew’s fate
is Don Kehn’s article “History and Mystery…” and his work in progress,
Upon a Blue Sea of Blood
.
USS
Stewart
’
s fate:
Morison,
History
, Vol. 3, 378. “
A magnificent display of very bad strategy
”: Admiral King as quoted in Morison,
History
, Vol. 3, 380. “
It drank the cup of defeat to the bitter dregs
…”: Ibid.

“
I took a deep drink of that sea water
…”: James Gee, UNT interview, 40. “
You’re just completely beyond exhaustion
…”: Charley L. Pryor, UNT interview, Nov. 4, 1972, 112.
Ens. John B. Nelson’s boat
: Winslow,
The Ghost That Died at Sunda Strait
, 170–71 and Paul E. Papish, UNT interview, 49. “
This jerk was picking up guys
…”: William M. Ingram, in Winslow, 149; see also Ingram, interviewed by Floyd Cox, 15. “
We weren’t ashore five minutes
…”: Ingram as quoted in Winslow, 149. “
I could feel myself being carried out to sea
…”: Gee, UNT interview, 42.
Chaplain Rentz
: H. S. Hamlin, “The
Houston
’s Last Battles,” 27; Lloyd V. Willey, UNT interview, 40; Web site of the USS
Rentz
(FFG-46),
www.rentz.navy.mil/rentz_rentz.html
. “
You men are young, with your lives ahead of you
”: Hamlin, 27, and Walter L. Beeson, “Casualty Affidavit for Cdr. George S. Rentz.” “
The surface was dotted with all sorts of objects
”: William J. Weissinger to Robert J. Cressman, Sept. 26, 1977, 4. “
Transports lined the beach as far as the eye could see
…”: John H. Wisecup to Randall Sutherland, Feb. 10, 1989, 4. “
Strange guttural-snarling sounds
…”
and Lt. Dalton’s parley with the Japanese
: Weissinger,
Attention, Fool!
10–12. “
Nobody wanted us
”: Weissinger to Cressman, 5–6.
Ordeal of Frank Gillan’s group of
Perth
survivors
: McKie,
Proud Echo
, 73–76, 88–91. “
The deck looked like a used shoe store display
”: Wisecup to Randall Sutherland, Feb. 10, 1989, 1.
Ensign Smith and Red Huffman getting ashore
: Charles D. Smith, “USS
Houston
(CA-30) and Experiences in Jap Prison Camp.”
Damage to Japanese landing force
: Weissinger to Cressman, Sept. 26, 1977, 4, and Winslow, 185.

“
Those Aussies—if you ever have to get captured
…”: Otto C. Schwarz, interview with the author; see also Pete Evans, UNT interview, 195.
Keith Gosden’s capture
: McKie,
Proud Echo
, 54.
There’s a plan for every man
…: Ibid., 101.
Toppers Island and Sangiang
: Parkin,
Out of the Smoke
, 1, 6, and McKie, 71–83. “
They had both disappeared
”: William J. Weissinger to Robert J. Cressman, Sept. 26, 1977, 6. “
If that’s the sort they are
…”: McKie, 83.
John A. Thode
: McKie, 98–99.
On Princes Island
: Ibid., 102–103.
Capture by the Dutch
: Ibid., 106.

“
You are prisoners of war. Your lives will be spared
”: Charley L. Pryor, UNT interview, Nov. 4, 1972, 114; Otto C. Schwarz, “One Man’s Story,” 4–5. “
All my life I was the kind of person
…”: Schwarz, videotaped interview, collection of Val Roberts-Poss.
Americans at Pandeglang
: William J. Weissinger to Robert J. Cressman, Sept. 26, 1977, 9. “
You and the Japanese are brothers
…”: General Imamura, as quoted in Reid and Akira,
The Japanese Experience in Indonesia
, 35.
Sighting of Sergeant Standish ashore
: Griff L. Douglas, UNT interview, 40 (most survivors doubt he got off the ship).
Prisoners at Serang
: Bee,
All Men Back
, 130; Charles D. Smith, 14; Harold S. Hamlin, “Report of Service as Prisoner of War,” 45; William J. Stewart, UNT interview, 36; Paul E. Papish, UNT interview,
60–61; and Rohan Rivett,
Behind Bamboo
, 89. “
They’ve now decided after several more counts
…”: Ibid., 75. “
We thought we were dead pigeons
…”: Edward Miles Barrett, diary entry for March 2, 1942. “
They just didn’t want to believe we were off the
Houston
”: Pryor, UNT interview, Jan. 22, 1973, 10. “
For the first four or five days at Serang
…”: Lanson H. Harris, interview with the author. “
We began to mellow out and to think
”: Ibid. “
We were hungry to the point of it being actual torture
…”: Pryor, UNT interview, Jan. 22, 1973, 16.
“After about two weeks, things began to get very uptight
…”: Lanson H. Harris, speech to the Long Beach Yacht Club.

“
From fragmentary reports received in the Navy Department
…”: Navy Department, Communique No. 48. “
Nothing, however, has been heard from the HMAS
Perth
or the USS
Houston
…”: Navy Department, Communique No. 54. “
12 Allied Warships Lost in Java Battle
…”:
Los Angeles Examiner
, March 15, 1942, 1. “
Kin of Missing Sad but Proud
…”:
New York Herald Tribune
, dateline May 14, 1942.
Commander Maher, reported held in “the southern regions
”:
Waltham News-Tribune
, “Some of Houston’s Crew Saved, Japs Indicate.” “
A new kind of war
…”: Franklin D. Roosevelt, fireside chat, Feb. 23, 1942.
“Everybody well. Love, Harold Rooks.”
Rooks to Edith Rooks, March 4, 1942. “
That means he and the ship are okay
…”: “Misdated Cable Gave Wife of Capt. Rooks False Hope,” unattributed
,
undated
. “Just heard that Houston was sunk…”:
Harold R. Rooks to Edith Rooks, March 14, 1942. “
Characteristic of you in having no hesitation
…”: Hart to Edith Rooks, March 25, 1942, 1. “
I, myself, am by no means without hope
…”: Ibid. “
It is with deep regret that I confirm the Navy Department’s dispatch
…”: Frank Knox to Edith Rooks, April 9, 1942.
Stivers “had word from a most responsible source
”: J. W. Woodruff to Edith Rooks, April 22, 1942.
Rooks “a tower of strength in getting our scattered forces together
…”: William A. Glassford to Edith Rooks, May 21, 1942, 1. “
There was a bell in the naval office
…”: correspondence of William A. Bernrieder, CHC. “
There’s never been anything like it, before or since
”: “A Case of Unparalleled Patriotism,”
The Houston Chronicle, Texas Magazine
, Dec. 9, 1979, 44. “
I’m ready to fight
…”: Bob Tutt, “Reunion Set for Cruiser ‘Volunteers,’”
Houston Chronicle
, May 11, 1992, 9A, 16A. “
On this Memorial Day, all America joins with you
…”:
New York Times
, May 31, 1942, quoted in John Grider Miller,
The Battle to Save the Houston
, 6–7. “
An unparalleled gift of manpower
”: Richard M. Morehead, “Texas Fills
Houston
Crew,” undated United Press dispatch, dateline Houston, May 30, 1942.

“
Officer? Any officer
?”
and Hamlin’s parley with Japanese officer
: Paul E. Papish, UNT interview, 68–69.
Bicycle Camp “looked like the Hilton
”: Lloyd V. Willey, UNT interview, 58–59. “
The whole camp froze
…”: James Gee, UNT interview, 56. “
When a guy got out of line
…”
and
“
They were hard cases
…”: John H. Wisecup, UNT interview, 39–40. “
They were looking for a soft billet
…”: George Detre, UNT interview, 89. “
Some of them were so
short
…”: James Gee, UNT interview, 57. “
You did your damnedest to hold your feet
…”: Seldon D. Reese, UNT interview, 58. “
After a while, hell, a bashing didn’t
…”: Wisecup, UNT interview, 41. “
The women and the kids had more intestinal fortitude
…”: James Gee, UNT interview, 59. “
The Japanese soldier placed great emphasis on his masculinity
…”: Charles,
Last Man Out
, 42. “
I’ll always thank some good Christian missionary
…”: Pryor, UNT interview, Jan. 22, 1973, 20. “
At nighttime you’d hear some noise
…”: Ibid., 22. “
All these other Jap guards rushed out immediately
…”: Willey, 63–64.

Hill
“
willed himself to die
…”: Marvin Robinson, UNT interview, 130. Hill died at Serang on April 8, 1942.
Medical conditions in camp
: Raymond Day, “Saga of the
Houston
,” 7–8, and Hamlin, statement, 2–3. “
This stuff is just like a knife in your guts
”: John H. Wisecup, UNT interview, 43–44. “
Finally a British colonel interceded
…”: Hamlin, “Statement,” 2. “
He gave up a long time ago
…”: John H. Wisecup, UNT interview, 31. “
Generally speaking, petty officers behaved splendidly
…”: Hamlin, “Statement,” 2. “
Organization was kept in every way
…”: Ibid., 3. “
We were professional sailors
…”: George Detre, UNT interview, 69. “
If you got your brass, you got a chance
…”: Wisecup, UNT interview, 34. “
They would tell us about great naval battles
…”: Charley L. Pryor, UNT interview, Jan. 22, 1973, 36. “
What’s the matter, sailor
?”: Paul E. Papish, UNT interview, 84.

Arrival of the 131st:
Donald Brain, UNT interview, 80, and Melfred L. Forsman, UNT interview, 78.
Lost Battalion battery associations
: Luther Prunty, UNT interview, 11. “
We felt very good because we felt that in numbers there was strength
…””: James Gee, UNT interview, 54. “
Whatever you needed, they seemed to come up with it
”: Melfred L. Forsman, UNT interview, 79. “
How could there be so much water in the world
?”: Jess Stanbrough, UNT interview, 38–39.
Lost Battalion’s deployment on Java
: Ibid., 53–58, and Eddie Fung, UNT interview, 26. “
We were still in an
Alice in Wonderland
world
…”: Stanbrough, UNT interview, 72. “
We would pass through a village
…”: Thompson,
A Thousand Cups of Rice
, 37–38. “
There’s only a few hundred of them over there
…”: Ibid., 38–39. “
We entered right off the road, dressed in our fatigues
…”: Stanbrough, quoted in Thompson, 40. “
The Australian Brigadier says
…”
and
“
At last we fully realized that the war had caught up with us
”: Ibid., 40–41. “
We are forced to surrender
…”: Ibid., 42.
Surrender of Lost Battalion
: Prunty, 38–39. “
We still had this eternal hope, prayer for the
Houston
…”: Wade H. Webb, UNT interview, 47–48. “
I guess that was the first time I’d seen a Jap
…”: Roy M. Offerle, UNT interview, 36.

Home life of
Houston
men
: Otto C. Schwarz, interview with the author; H. Robert Charles, interview with the author and
Last Man Out
, 43–44. “
Hey, old Joe’s
really getting a pounding
…!”: Seldon D. Reese, UNT interview, 58. “
He’d see a tin can
—”
and
“
They’d look at him and kind of shake their heads
…”: Charles, UNT interview, 81. “
I don’t know what there was in that man
…”: Charles, interview with the author.
Scavenging by work parties at Batavia
: Howard Brooks, interview with the author, 33; William M. Ingram, interview with Floyd Cox, 19; Charley L. Pryor, UNT interview, Jan. 22, 1973, 34; George Detre, UNT interview, 87; Raymond Day, “Saga of the
Houston
,” 8a. “
Hey, Jack, you’ve got a real treasure there
…” and “
You dumb bastard! Where’s your truck?
”: Jack Feliz, UNT interview, 60–63. “
This man stole many things
”: Lloyd V. Willey, UNT interview, 72. “
He was the type of guy that could actually get you in trouble
…”: Marvin Robinson, UNT interview, 60.