Houston had a Problem

The USS Houston had a problem long before James Lovell uttered similar words, albeit with a much different twist, on Apollo 13. It was on this date, in 1942 that the lives of the men on the Houston would be forever altered, as Dutch Admiral Doorman gave orders for a small Allied fleet to meet the incoming Japanese armada. On February 28, 1942 the USS Houston, which was a  US Navy Cruiser first launched in September 1929, entered battle with Japanese naval forces in what is known as the Battle of Sunda Strait.  This ship hosted President Franklin Roosevelt and became the flagship for the Asiatic fleet under the command of US Admiral Tommy Hart.

FDR on Houston

Unfortunately for Admiral Hart in the two months following Pearl Harbor he was kept in the dark about US plans for the Asia Pacific Fleet, and  he was fighting more than the Japanese.  The British, holding not uncommon somewhat racist view and thinking that they are the best at everything, undermined Admiral Hart.* (The United States had to come to the aid of Britain in the Great War, and would do so again in WWII so why the British acted so superior is probably a cultural hangover of their imperial dynasty.)  In particular, British Field Marshal Wavell's complaints about Hart reached the highest levels of British command.  He complained that Hart in particular, and Americans in general had "exaggerated ideas of Japanese efficiency." (Hornfischer,  p. 41)  In the US, during the early months of 1942, blame was being placed for the raid on Pearl Harbor, and combined with the British complaints Hart would become a scapegoat and be relieved of command.  The Brits got what they wanted when PM of England Winston Churchill complained to President Franklin Roosevelt.  Hart was out.  A Dutchman, Admiral Doorman would see the US Asiatic Fleet placed under his command.

Admiral Hart

But, Doorman and the British never fully comprehended the Japanese version of the German Blitzkrieg being used in the Pacific.  They never fully appreciated the efficiency of which the Japanese had quickly controlled such a vast sprawling region.  The Japanese were gaining additional territory each and every day.  As they reached port after an early February convoy shadow, it was realized little was present in port to repair the ships.  Late in February the Houston and its men would face battle, and their lives would be forever altered.  On 26 February when Doorman received word that a Japanese invasion force was approaching Java he decided to meet the enemy force.  Doorman's attack force consisted of six cruisers and ten destroyers. Upon initial engagement the Japanese force had four cruisers and 13 destroyers.  Things did not go well for the Allies, and four ships remained in Doorman's attack fleet as they started to retreat.  At the end of the day, however, two more ships were sunk and the two remaining, the USS Houston and the HMAS Perth (Australian), were ordered to return to Surabaya and Tanjong Priok (Indonesia). An ignominious beginning to Doorman's command.

Field Marshal Wavell

The ships would reach Tanjong Priok on 28 February for resupply, but showing a lack of Dutch and British efficiency, there was a shortage of fuel, and no available ordnance or ammunition.  Not only that, but few Dutch sailor in port to assist in supply.  Even worse of those present some refused to help the USS Houston.  The two ships, with a Dutch destroyer were then ordered to sail to Tjilatjap, which contained the only Java port of any significance on the Ocean.  The Dutch ship would be delayed so the Houston and Perth made their way to that Java port city alone.  Here they would be surrounded and engaged by Japanese forces in what would become known as the Battle of Sunda Strait.  The two ships had some initial success evading Japanese torpedoes and even sinking some of the Japanese fleet, but they were well out-manned and out-gunned.  In trying to run Sunda Stait they came to face to face with a group of Japanese destroyers. (A first person account of the Battles of Java and Sunda Strait can be read here.)

USS Houston arriving in Port after Battle of Java Sea and
before Battle of Sunda Strait. 
Crew were lost in Battle of Java, so the flag is at half mast

The Houston was struck by a torpedo shortly after midnight and was taking on water.  An abandon ship message was relayed, but later rescinded, and issued again.   The Captain of the Houston, Albert Rooks, was hit and killed by a bursting shell at 12:30 am and the ship would come to a stop as the counter forces of Japanese fire power, and listing became too great for the most notable cruiser in the US fleet.  The Japanese came in for the kill, and a few minutes later the USS Houston would go down to the bottom of the sea in the darkness of the early hours on that first day of March 1942.  Many who survived the sinking were killed in the water. Most survivors made it to land (a few were picked out of the water), only to be captured.  A small group of Americans thought they had reached safety when they came upon some Dutch nationals, only to see the traitorous nature of those Dutch as they turned the Americans in to the Japanese occupation force.  Native populations also did not take kindly to the mainly white men, who brought thoughts of colonialism, so revealed their hiding spots to the Japanese.  Hindsight being 20/20, I suspect the treatment the natives were to receive by the Japanese invasion forces would have altered their opinion.

Japanese Propaganda on Sinking of the Houston 

What we do know is that, just as with the prisoners of Bataan, the Japanese thought it cowardly of a man to surrender.  The USS Houston is often referred to as the ship of ghosts, because it would be nine months before its fate as having been sunk was realized, and it would take until the end of the war when the POW's were released for a full accounting of the battle and the trials and tribulations of the remaining crew to receive at least some mention.  Apparently, a cruiser ship was an easy thing to lose in the early days of WWII.  Of the 1,061 men on board the ship only 368 would survive.  This number included 24 of 74 in a Marine detachment being transported on the ship.  Those few hundred US Naval and Marine survivors would be taken prisoner by the Japanese. Of the 368 prisoners of war from the USS Houston an astonishing 21%, or 77 men, would die in captivity. By comparison, only about 1% of Allied POW's held by Germany died.  The 21% is under the overall 27% of Allied POW's who died in Japanese hands.

Captain Rooks, kia, of US Houston

If the survivors thought that what they had experienced in the sinking of the Houston was hell on earth, that was only a small blip in the hell that would be thrust upon them as prisoners of war by the Japanese. Showing that racism is not only a European trait, the Japanese would turn out to be just as, if not more so racist, than the opinions held by Field Marshal Wavell and other Brits in the command structure.  In the end, the survivors of the Perth and Houston would show how wrong British Field Marshal Wavell was about the thinking of Admiral Hart and other Americans on the efficiency of the Japanese.  It turns out the Japanese were brutally efficient, with the emphasis on brutally.  That is another story for a future Tom's Tales.

Source: Hornfischer, James D. Ship of Ghosts, 2006 Bantam Books, NY NY.

* The United States had its own prejudices regarding race, and like the Brits, religion. It was common knowledge that to be a higher ranking US Naval officer one had to be an Episcopalian.

Images from Google Images

Dogs and the Beatitudes

This past weekend the Gospel reading from Luke focused on his version of the Beatitudes.  Most are probably familiar with the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew where the longer, more poetic version of the beatitudes is written.  In contrast to Matthew, Luke's version is known as the Sermon on the Plain.  Not as well known, but not any less important.  The opening lines in the homily, following the Gospel reading, was not what one would normally expect.  It was a short story about man's (people's) best friend--dogs.

As told last Saturday evening the homily began with something like this story: Their is a puppy and an older dog.  The puppy says to the older dog that he finds happiness in his tail, and therefore he is always chasing his tail. He then asks the older dog if he too finds happiness in his tail.  The older dog responds, that yes he does find happiness in his tail, and that he always moves on because happiness is right behind.

Church of the Beatitudes, on Mount of the Beatitudes
 Near Capernaum

This story well relates to the Beatitudes, which to me indicates the benefits of service to others.  Dogs generally seem to bring happiness to many people.  I am not a dog owner, but dogs have a sense about their humans.  In two instances of which I know a dog(s) sensed a coming death of their human.  During that trying time they were a constant companion.  Dogs are, to generalize, in service to their humans. And for many of the dogs it is a service freely given.  Service becomes happiness for humans too.

The story in Luke is, well, kinda of downer for those in our technologically advanced age.  Today many have information at their fingertips, pretty much all day.  Luke indicates that happiness is found in  poverty, hunger, weeping, exclusion, and people calling you names.  These may well be true in statement, but also allegorical.  We all have down times.  It is not unlike the old saying of a rose has thorns.  The beauty or grace which arises from our trying times provide a situation for us in which we can grow, and adjust.  Some of our best stories may result from not so good situations, which in some cases turns out not to be as bad as we thought at the time. They provide us memories and stories.

View of the Sea of Galilee from Mount of the Beatitudes

I just completed reading Disappointment River: Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage, by Brain Castner.  In 2016 Castner replicated the journey of Alexander Mackenzie, and Mackenzie's hired French Voyageurs, and accompanying indigenous members to journey by canoe from Hay River, on Slave Lake, Canada to the north ending at Garry Island (which is part of the Deh Cho River delta area; Deh Cho is also known as the Mackenzie River) in the Beaufort Sea, or as reported in the book at latitude 60 degrees 26.5 minutes N, which is about 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle.  Castner, to get in the state of mind for his long journey, read the 1961 work of Sigurd Olson The Lonely Land, which chronicles Olson's paddling through Saskatchewan.  He bluntly refers to Olson's prose as "romantic bullshit."  He notes that life on the river was "tedious and exhausting to do simple things: eating, sleeping and shitting."  He notes that Olson "writing safely in front of his fireplace had confused the memory of the trip with the real thing."  Listening to the sermon, Castner's reference to Olson came to mind.  Because the difficulties we experience tend to fade and the trials and tribulations experienced can be replaced by better memories--in other words they turn to happiness.  Perhaps, that is why Olson's prose romanticized his 1961 journey.  Castner was more a realist.  In fact, the romantic ideal of a beautiful blue Arctic Ocean he found disappointing in both color and substance, by writing: "We saw open water. Not a sliver of ice anywhere. The ocean was not a shocking polar blue as you imagine from the movies.  It was dull, the color of a well worn coffee mug, all the way to the northern horizon."  (The horizon, from ground level is about 3 miles distant.)  Both Olson and Castner were on their own sort of pilgrimage.

In effect, Olson's paddle through the wilderness of Canada mid 20th century, was probably not a great deal of fun, but he formed different, more romantic memories to convey to his readers while writing from the comfort of his home.  Castner is much more blunt of his travels in his prose. Yet, I see both being like that older dog in that happiness was found when the journey was completed, regardless of whether or not a polar blue ice cap was discovered.  Castner admits, after having paddled over 1, 125 miles in about one month that he broke down and cried.  As the older dog knew, the journey is the adventure and happiness will follow.  

Images by author in 2013

Patriots Shade Packers

Throwing shade, is a common slang expression providing an insult, or expressing contempt.    It is not unlike its cousin, trolling, which is where negative comments are made in internet forums.  After the Super Bowl on February 2, did Patriot coach Bill Belichick shade the Green Bay Packers?

While I boycotted watching the Super Bowl, it was a very low scoring game which the Patriots won 13 to 3 over the Los Angeles Rams.  The Rams entered the game as the number three scoring offense in the 2018 regular season, following the Kansas City Chiefs and the New Orleans Saints. New England was the fourth highest scoring offense.  The two highest scoring offenses lost to the fourth and third ranked offenses in their respective championship games.  Although many argue that the Rams defeat of the Saints was tainted.  My prediction that the d-back for the Rams who was not penalized in the Saints game would be in the next game came to hold true.  That d-back was called for interference a call that only seemed to reinforce the fix was in for the Patriots as many say it was not even close to an interference call.  It is a seeming occurrence that when a high scoring game is predicted the opposite often occurs.  The tainted, fixed Super Bowl was one of those games.  The game also played into my assertion that defense wins championships, something the Packers have yet to figure out.

Bill Belichick 

The potential shade thrown by the Patriots to the Packers is easily explained.  Of the eight head coach openings in the NFL, Patriot offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels decided to only interview with one team--the Green Bay Packers.  McDaniels had been a head coach for a few years in Denver, but did not do well and was released.   He eventually went back to the Patriot organization from which he was hired.  (Last year Indianapolis McDaniels would be their next head coach, but he backed out right before the announcement, meaning get the signature on the contract before anything goes public. Indianapolis had even hired some assistant coaches the McDaniels wanted on his staff.)  One cannot hold such lack of success against a coach, as Belichick, who many now believe to the greatest football coach in the NFL lacked prior success.  In any event McDaniels placed his eggs for a head coach position in one basket-the Packers-but that team decided to hire a young man who has never been a head coach and was a play-calling offensive coordinator for only one year, yes just one year.

Josh McDaniels

While that young coordinator was hired away from Tennessee, his prior experience included stints with various teams including the Redskins, and the year before his one year in Tennessee, with the LA Rams, under Sean McVay.  Sean McVay is (was?) considered a wunderkind of the NFL and his ability to get to a tainted and fixed Super Bowl illuminated this moniker.  So, the Packers hired Matt LaFleur as their head coach, with only one year of play calling experience and no head coaching experience.  The Packers seemingly wished to imitate the LA Ram success by obtaining a candidate with an association to Sean McVay.

Sean McVay

Clearly, Sean McVay was out coached in the Super Bowl.  This is a self-admission, which you can read about here; hence it need not be debated.  It was a tight low-scoring affair, with only one touchdown scored.  Going into the locker room at half-time, the Patriots were leading 3 to 0.  This is when it got interesting.  After the game, Belichick credited his offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels with the adjustments for the Patriots ability to better control the ball and score the one offensive touchdown of the game.  It is not necessary to go to the adjustments to which McDaniels is credited.  What is important is that the head coach said the success rested with his offensive master-mind, Josh McDaniels who only interviewed for one head coach position this year--The Packers.

Matt LaFleur

The Packers have copied the success of the LA Rams and its young coach Sean McVay, but yet McVay was easily out coached and his thought of prodigious offense being no where near prodigious. So, was Bill Belichick now providing a slight, or shade, to the Packer management for having hired a protege of McVay over McDaniels?  The Packers copied a team, the LA Rams, who reached the Super Bowl due to poor officiating, and basically were also rans in the Super Bowl.  So, yes, I think this one comment by Belichick threw shade on the Packers. This one comment by Belichick clearly shows that he thinks the Packers made the wrong choice, by going for someone off the unproven McVay coaching tree and not that of the Patriots, the masters of the NFL. After all it is quite clear that any adjustments the LA Rams staff made during the game did not work.

Mark Murphy

The NFC North will not play the AFC east this year, so if the Packers were to play the Patriots, it would have to be in the Super Bowl.  That is a long shot given the pathetic nature of the Packers.  Will the Packer choice of a head coach show the folly of following a new trend?  In this case, the new trend, of the Sean McVay offense has proven that it is no match for an old hand.  Throwing shade and trolling are, in my mind, not unlike bullying.  But I guess even bullies can make a valid point.  Time will tell if Packer management made the correct decision.  If they did not, and the team goes into another four years of mediocrity the Packers need to clean house beginning with Mr. Mark Murphy.  Although in my mind he should have been fired this year.  For too long Green Bay has lived off its past laurels.  The NFL is fixing to assure Boston is the new Titletown.  Murphy forgot about the team for the past several years, and his Titletown district.  Due to the lack of success of the team, the moniker Titletown is becoming obsolete and the Titletown District will be but an adage to a long ago era.

Raid

There are all sorts of raids, perhaps the one most known today is the FBI raid on Roger Stone's house.  Back in World War II a number of raids occurred.  There were air raids, hostage raids and raids to free prisoners.  Hitler had a raid to rescue Mussolini.  But, there was another raid that is often lost in the dust heap of history.  It has become known, in the United States, as The Great Raid.  There is both a book and a movie of this title.  The Great Raid was undertaken by US Army Ranger and Philippine guerrilla  forces in January 1945.  Many have argued that the raid had little military purpose, but to many others it was a chance for freedom.  The raid that was planned and undertaken over five days in the tropics of the Philippines was to free over 500 prisoners of war from a POW camp near Cabanatuan.

Lt Col Mucci and Capt Robert Prince

The journey of most of the prisoners to the squalid prison camp near Cabanatuan, would begin with the strike in Pearl Harbor.  The day after that day of infamy, the United States declared war on the axis powers of Japan, Italy and Germany.  While the United States would begin a war on two fronts, the war in the east was, for many practical purposes, the poor step child as much of the men and material from the United States went first to Europe. England had to be saved yet once again. Yet, things were moving fast in the east.  After Pearl Harbor the Japanese fleet made its way to southeast Asia to secure the Philippines, and other islands and archipelagos.  Some were strategic in the overall plan of battle, others were necessary for resources.  General Douglas MacArthur commanded the US soldiers in the Philippines and as Japanese forces took Manila, that forced a planned US retreat to the other side of Manila Bay to the Bataan peninsula.  MacArthur would be told to abandon his headquarters.  General King, who commanded the forces on the peninsula surrendered a large number of American and Filipino soldiers, about 75,000 in total including 12,000 Americans, to the forces of the Emperor of Japan.  This is the largest contingent of American forces to ever surrender.

Allied Filipino Guerrillas

As commonly noted, the Bushido code of Japan did not agree with surrender so the Allied forces who were taken prisoner were subjected to forced labor and torture.  To the Japanese, the US, and other Allied prisoners were a nuisance, but would become a labor force.  These men would be subjected to what is known as the Bataan Death March.  A forced 65 mile hike in the tropics with prisoners subjected to mass murder on the route.  Over 600 Americans and at least 5,000 Filipino's would die (although some estimates place the Filipino account at up to 16,000) during the March. Many of these prisoners would end up at the camp near Cabanatuan.

Former Prisoners of Cabantuan Camp on way to Freedom

As MacArthur reestablished himself in the Philippines in fall of 1944 the Japanese high command sent out a list of instructions as to circumstances where they said US prisoners could be killed.  Intelligence information reported on a massacre at Palawan where over 150 Americans were crowded into small air raid shelters and the Japanese opened and rolled barrels of gasoline to the side of the pits and started them on fire.   As American forces advanced to retake the Philippines  the concern arose that this would occur in other prison camps.  Hence the great raid was planned and needed to be executed by the end of January due to the movement of American forces.

Freed Prisoners

On January 25, Major Robert Lapham, who coordinated guerrilla forces with the Filipino insurgents recommended that a raid occur on the camp. MacArthur had previously denied an earlier raid by the insurgents due to concern with capture by the Japanese before they were able to reach American lines.  It was estimated that there were 100 to 300 Japanese forces in the camp, with 5000 of their soldiers four miles away in Cabanutuan City, and another 1,000 or more bivouacked about 1/2 mile from the camp.  General Krueger approved the idea of a raid.  The approval made its way down the chain of command to Lt. Col Henry Mucci to plan and implement.

Layout and Plan of Attack and Rescue of Cabanatuan POW Camp

On January 27  Mucci and his complement of 121 US Army Rangers departed their base at 5 am to make their way the 30 some miles to enemy lines which they crossed at about 2 pm.  They then made their way to a small barrio, about five miles from the camp.  Filipino fighters assisted and guided the US force.   Filipino intelligence on the movement of Japanese forces required Mucci had to delay the raid for 24 hours from January 29 to January 30.  With the Americans on the move, the Japanese were adjusting their forces and Cabanatuan was now base for over 7000 enemy forces.  During this time, Captain Prince and Mucci were provided with more detail on the geography of the area, and the situation at hand from American scouts.  The flat, open nature of 800' around the camp was a major concern.  They realized there would be only an hour of full darkness between sunset and moon rise.  The 121 Americans would need to crawl that distance in open view, and they had limited time in which to do so.

Prisoner Hut at Cabanatuan POW Camp

The leader of the Filipino guerrillas suggested, and Mucci agreed, to a US plane to fly over to distract the Japanese as the Americans made their way to their final positions.  The one plane flyover, in which the pilot risked his own life by flying close to the ground, would distract the Japanese guards for about 20 minutes.  Two Filipino guerrilla forces would be sent up and down the road to slow any of the other Japanese forces.  At 20 minutes to eight the Rangers, now in position, would begin the raid.  The POW's were not aware of the raid, even though two Filipino boys had thrown two rocks which contained a note:  "Be ready to go".  The prisoners thought it was a prank.  Luckily no guard caught a rock.  By 15 minutes after 8, the death camp was secure and the 513 prisoners, including 464 Americans, were on the first leg of their journey to American lines.  The planning of the escape from the camp required the gathering of a large number of carts pulled by the local draft animal--carabao, all secured and guided by the local population.  By 10:00 pm the group had reached the community of Plateros and at 11 pm headquarters was notified.  There were Communist Filipino guerrillas who disliked the Americans and the Japanese and were in control of a village through which the caravan would have to pass and refused to do so.  That is until Mucci relayed a message that he was calling in an air raid to destroy the whole village.  It was a ruse as his radio did not work, but the threat worked.

Survivors of Bataan Death March and Camp Cabanatuan 

Two American soldiers and  21 Allied Filipino guerrillas died during the rescue raid.  A few of the Americans rescued would die within a few days, due to illness from captivity.  Malaria, dystentery and cholera were common illnesses in the camp.  MacArthur would say of the raid:  "No incident of the campaign in the Pacific has given me such satisfaction as the release of the POWs at Cabanatuan. The mission was brilliantly successful."  The news of the rescue was released on Feb 2 in the Philippines, which was Feb 1 in the United States.  It is likely the news headline on groundhog day was of the rescue of the prisoners of war.  It is thought that over 20,000 Allied soldiers and civilians were interred at this camp.  Death and transfer to other camps reduced the camp population.  The horrors undertaken by the Japanese would also become known to the American population.

Former Prisoners being treat at a MakeShift Hospital

As bad as things were for the survivors of the Bataan death march, and in the camp near Cabanatuan, some claim that there was even worse prisoner treatment in other areas of the Japanese Empire, such as in Malaysia, and Burma (present day Myanmar).  The raid my have had little military value, but it would be one of the first to show the atrocities of the Empire of Japan not only on Allied Prisoners of War, but also on local populations.  For readers of this blog, look for more on this matter in a future blog post.   

Images from Google Images