[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 2122-2123]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 HEROIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS ABOARD USS ``HOUSTON'' WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 16, 2006

  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, the USS Houston, a 9050-ton Northampton class 
light cruiser, was built in Newport News, Virginia. Named for the great 
city of Houston, she was commissioned in June 1930 and reclassified as 
a heavy cruiser a year later. She played a crucial role in World War II 
and became a flagship of the U.S. Fleet.
  For 10 years, she served around the world on various missions and 
even transported President Roosevelt on certain occasions. But, in 
November 1940, as WWII deepened she returned to the Philippines for her 
second deployment as Asiatic Fleet flagship. A year later, she was sent 
south to Australian and Netherlands East Indies waters. As the heaviest 
unit of the Allied naval force in that area, she was actively employed 
in the desperate

[[Page 2123]]

struggle against the Japanese East Indies' offensive.
  The USS Houston was ordered to leave the area on February 28, 1942. 
Along with the Australian light cruiser Perth, the USS Houston 
encountered a strong Japanese navy force supporting an amphibious 
landing on western Java. On March 1, 1942, in a courageous night battle 
against all odds, Houston and Perth were sunk by enemy gunfire and 
torpedoes.
  Six hundred and ninety-two U.S. Sailors and Marines, \2/3\ of the 
crew, including the Captain, perished that evening. The remaining 368 
surviving crewmen were captured by the Japanese Imperial Army. The ship 
became known as the ``Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast.''
  Details of Houston's fate was not known by the world for almost 3 and 
\1/2\ years, and the full story of her brave plight was not fully told 
until after the war was over and her survivors were liberated from 
prison camps.
  Next Saturday in my home state of Texas, survivors, their families, 
friends and representatives of the Naval Order of the U.S. and several 
foreign nations will converge at the USS Houston Memorial in Sam 
Houston Park for a memorial service to honor the warship and her 
courageous crew.
  The members of the Greatest Generation that were aboard the USS 
Houston were true American heroes. They represent the finest the Nation 
has ever produced. We honor the brave sailors, Marines and their crew 
who served on the USS Houston and we thank them for the sacrifices they 
made for freedom. We also pay tribute to the families of those who lost 
their lives in doing so. The heroic freedom fighters aboard the USS 
Houston will never be forgotten. They have made Texas proud. That's 
just the way it is.

                          ____________________