To Endure
The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast
Since starting this blog I’ve placed a great deal of thought into the subject of endurance and what it means to “endure”. It crept up on me slowly at first. It picked up speed after Mike and I completed our first trial run up to Huntsville State Park fully loaded. (previous post)
In the days
after that “dress rehearsal / trial run” it became clear to me how serious our
endeavor to ride across the heart of the US was really going to be. I came back
from those two days sore and tired. My eyes were opening to the fact that a
tour of this magnitude was going to be a great deal more than a weekend
training ride. More than a weeklong tour in Colorado, or Wyoming, or Montana,
which I and others in our Ultramiler Group have ridden many times in the last
20 years fully supported. We will have no such support.
This post
is about the essence of what endurance is all about by using the real story of
a relative I never knew – the husband of my Dad’s Sister and my Uncle. You’re
probably asking by now, where I’m going with this because the title above says,
“The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast”. So let’s get to it.
Recently on
a visit to my Mom and Dad in an assisted living facility in Conroe, my Dad and
I discussed some of his experiences as an Airman in the Army Air Core in WWII.
In those discussions we talked a bit about his sister, my Aunt Alice and her
husband Lowell.
Alice
Benita Standley Swartz and Lowell Wendell Swartz met in the Navy during WWII.
Aunt Alice was a Navy Lieutenant and a Nurse. Uncle Lowell was a Pharmacist
Mate on the Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast - the USS Houston CA-50.
My dad’s
recollection of Uncle Lowell was that he was a very quiet man and that he spent
time as a prisoner of the Japanese but not much more. My memories of Uncle
Lowell were foggy to say the least. I know I met him and my Aunt Alice. But I
cannot tell you where or when. I too recall he was present but not talkative. Using
the marvels of the internet, I decided to do a bit of research.
First I
made a visit to the National Archival Databases after getting a hit with Uncle Lowell’s
name. Here I found he was on the USS Houston – CA-30 in the Asiatic Fleet, a
fact I had not known before. Next I began researching the history of the USS
Houston which quickly led me to discover my Uncle Lowell was on that ship
during the Battle of the Java Sea February – 1942 and the Battle of Sunda
Strait soon afterwards.
The USS Houston CA-50 and the USS Perth were a part of an allied force made up of American, Australian, Dutch and English ships that were soundly defeated by the Japenese in the Battle of the Java Sea.
On the way
back to port after that first battle, the Houston was attacked numerous times
by Japanese bombers. Evasive maneuvers were implemented involving timing the
bombs to a certain point in their drop and then turning hard starboard or port
out of the falling path of the ordinance. This went on for hours.
A single errant
bomb hit the vessel just behind the #3 turret killing 40 or more men instantly taking
one of three turrets out of action. This didn’t sink the Houston but it did
cripple their fire power for the battle that would ensue later that night.
There was no time for repairs. Invasion was imminent.
Within
hours of their return to port the Houston and the Perth were dispatched back
out to intercept the invasion force of Japanese troop transports and heavy
destroyers that would eventually take their intended target islands. These were
the only allied ships that made it to the Strait that night under cover of
darkness. Little did they know that they were sailing into the heart of the
enemy force.
As night
fell the USS Perth spotted a Japanese heavy vessel and opened fire with all it
had followed by the Houston. Soon it became clear the single Japanese vessel
was not alone. They were in the midst of a Japanese armada that was moored just
offshore in the darkness. The Houston and the Perth began firing point blank
into the Japanese ships. Soon the Japanese
fired star bombs that lit up the sky and the ocean revealing two lone allied
vessels. Then all hell broke loose. It did not take long for both captains to
order abandon ship just before both went down. The captains went down with
their ships. The Japanese had sunk two allied destroyers. YET they also sunk 6
of their own ships in the process. Two of which were later refloated to fight
again.
Of the
original 1,068 men onboard the Houston, 368 survived and swam to shore. Uncle
Lowell was one of those 368 survivors to reach the beach and was quickly taken
captive as a POW. Many were eventually taken to Burma to help build the Burma
to Thailand Railroad. The same RR that crossed over the river Kwai.
(Did you ever see the movie “Bridge Over the
River Kwai”). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_on_the_River_Kwai
As I
researched this blog it became obvious those that survived captivity had
endured unspeakable horrors. Beatings with bamboo clubs in the face were
routine as was being forced to bath in human sewer in the rivers of Indonesia. Infectious
diseases and starvation was common. They ate rice and an occasional cat if they
were lucky. Those that became too weak to work were thrown into a room on top
of each other to die.
Many
developed what was called Jungle Ulcers, an infection of the skin that ate
quickly all the way to the bone. Some of the luckier sailors were attended to
by Dutch and other POW doctors who were able to treat them with maggots that
literally ate the dead flesh and the infection away allowing the wound to
eventually heal.
The Japanese
provided zero medical support. When my Uncle was liberated, he had pneumonia
and peritonitis. http://www.usshouston.org/crewlist/crewroster5.htm
There are a
couple of very good videos about the crew as well as the battle and the vessel.
For reference, these are excellent documentaries.
We of
course don’t expect to be captured by an army while riding across the US from
San Francisco to Lexington Virginia. We don’t expect to have to deal with
Jungle Ulcers or beatings or starvation. But we do expect that it will not be a
walk in the park and there may be an ulcer or two on the butts of my fellow
riders J. I’ll be on a recumbent which is not
known for butt ulcers.
I’ve just
finished reading one book and am now reading the second written by people that
made it all the way across. Yet both made it differently that we will do it.
One young lady did it with the support of a film crew. The other did it with
the support of an RV. But after reading the book “Crazy Cycling Chick” and
beginning to read “All the Way to Lincoln Way” by Bill Row out of Davis,
California I know a bit more about what we will encounter. (More about them in
future posts.)
We will
have a great deal of traffic to deal with as we depart out of San Francisco. The
route will be mostly managed by riding bike paths and side roads. We will have rain
and fog and yes even snow in the Sierras and Rockies in May and June.
We will
experience near 100f heat in the deserts of Nevada and Utah. We will have
massive thunderstorms in the plains of Colorado and Kansas by the time we get
there in July. Some of those will have hail in them and we will have to deal
with that. We also know that there will be wind. Lots of wind. Sometimes at our
back and sometimes hitting us right in the face. Wind is the single most
demoralizing reality that both books have in common.
My career
in the oil industry taught me that a lack of preparation will not just cost you
a customer, it will kill you and your business. One of my bosses in my 43 year
career in the field gave me a piece advice that I will never forget. His name
is Dan Settles and is now retired in Oklahoma on his family ranch. Dan’s advice
was simple: He said Tom in all you do always remember the “7 P’s”.
Proper,
Prior, Planning, Prevents, Piss, Poor, Performance. That advice served me well
in many ways. I hope for it to serve me well on this tour.
When we study
the battles fought in the early stages of WWII history teaches us that we as a nation were not prepared for WWII. We and
our leaders chose to stay neutral and insulated. I am confident that the crew
of the Houston was well trained in their duties. This was discussed in some of
the documentaries. When the time came they fought gallantly against an enemy
that was vastly larger and better equipped.
I wish I
could have known my Uncle. I wish I could tell him Thank You for your service. And
I’d like to tell him: Uncle Lowell, your story has inspired me. Your trials
during the war have given me a glimpse into what it means to Endure. I thank
you Uncle Lowell.
As a
footnote to the story: The USS Houston was named the Galloping Ghost of the
Java Coast because Tokyo Rose reported her sunk over 8 times early in the war
only to reappear until that fateful night in The Sunda Strait.
The Houston
was recently found by archeologists and the Navy. See it here.
