[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 17386-17387]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE ``LOST BATTALION''

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 9, 2014

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, over 72 years ago, the 2nd Battalion 
of the 131st Field Artillery Regiment (36th Division--Texas National 
Guard) gathered and met for the first time. The 2nd Battalion was 
predominately made up of a scrappy group of Northwest Texas farmhands 
who hailed from towns like Abilene, Wichita Falls and Lubbock. About a 
year after their initial encounter, the group was detached from its 
division in Texas and sent out west to the San Francisco Bay where they 
were told that they would soon be on route to PLUM, a code-name for a 
destination unknown to the boys from the prairie lands of Texas.
  The 2nd Battalion arrived in Pearl Harbor a few days later on 
November 28, but immediately departed after being warned of a possible 
Japanese attack. The tragic prediction came true, and on December 7, 
1941, the 2nd Battalion was informed that Pearl Harbor was indeed 
attacked by the Japanese and that the United States was now at war. 
After leaving Hawaii, the Battalion headed over to Brisbane, Australia, 
where they spent Christmas until boarding a Dutch ship and setting sail 
for Java, an island in the Dutch East Indies, shortly before New Year's 
Day. They arrived at Java on January 11 and stayed for nearly two 
months, sharing the island with troops from the Netherlands and 
Australia, among other allied countries.
  After weeks of uncertainty, the boys started to grow restless as they 
pondered what their next assignment would be. Then, on February 28, 
their lives would change forever as they heard a quick succession of 
loud explosions. At this point explosions were sounding off faster than 
they could count and it became evident that the war's Pacific Theater 
was quickly encompassing their temporary island home of Java. As the 
melting pot of troops watched the horizon, they noticed something that 
appeared to be men swimming ashore. The dozens they first saw quickly 
turned into hundreds and the onshore troops soon learned that the men 
were all sailors aboard the USS Houston (a ship that was anchored 
nearby). The USS Houston was made up almost entirely of volunteers from 
the city of Houston, many of whom were just teenagers. That evening, 
Japanese forces surrounded and attacked the USS Houston, killing all 
but 368 of the 1,011 men aboard. The surviving sailors swam ashore, 
joined the 534 men of the 2nd Battalion, and would soon become known as 
the ``Lost Battalion.''
  Though the allied troops on the beaches of Java held off for as long 
as they could, they finally succumbed to Japanese forces on March 8 
after days of relentless, back-and-forth artillery fire. Within a 
matter of weeks, all of the remaining soldiers of the 2nd Battalion and 
the USS Houston were together at one camp as Japanese prisoners of war. 
This group of 902 men, nearly all of whom hailed from Texas, soon 
disappeared, not to be seen again for three and a half years. They 
would go on to be known as the ``Lost Battalion.''
  For 42 months, these captured American sailors toiled away in 
different parts of Pacific Asia. Forced together through a tragic turn 
of events, these men banded together to overcome a set of truly awful 
circumstances. Physical beatings were daily and torture came to be 
expected. Hard labor and starvation were now part of their daily 
routines. But, perhaps the hardest part of it all was being separated 
from their families without any chance at communicating with them. 
Their wives, children, parents and siblings all believed they were 
dead. Though the Japanese camps attempted to make them wish for that 
fate, they never gave up hope. It was the memory of their families back 
in Texas that kept them going each day. Moving from island to island in 
the darkest, dampest bowels of the Japanese ships' smallest 
compartments, the men were treated like cattle. Then, once reaching 
their destinations they would be immediately forced into hard slave 
labor. Some built roads, some worked in Burmese jungles chopping down 
trees and some mined coal. One of the worst physical punishments was 
working on a railway that became known as ``The Railroad of Death.'' 
Working on this railroad amounted to constant torture. Over 70,000 
allied soldiers died after being subjected to these horrible 20-plus 
hour work days. They were constantly starved, and when they did have 
the opportunity to eat, their food was rotten and full of insects. 
These men overcame slavery, torture, malnutrition, beatings and 
diseases, and came out of the atrocity stronger than ever with a bond 
that would last a lifetime.
  Liberation didn't come until the end of the war, and when it was all 
said and done, 163 of the 902 men had tragically lost their lives. 
Among these 163 were 89 from the 2nd Battalion of the 36th Division of 
the Texas National Guard and 74 sailors from the USS Houston. When the 
surviving men were finally liberated from their hell on earth, they 
headed back to Texas where a celebration in Wichita Falls was waiting 
for them. The boys from Texas had such a good time at the celebration 
that they decided to make it an annual get-together. They used this 
get-together to not only celebrate their families and lives, but to 
remember their 163 comrades who perished in Japanese war camps. Though 
they were now safe and back home with their families, many of them 
would go on to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. However, 
their mental fortitude helped them overcome many of the adversities 
they faced as POW's and then as victims of PTSD.
  The lesson the ``Lost Battalion'' taught us, and continues to teach 
us each day, goes further than just patriotism. Their resiliency, 
friendship, and faith in each other and in God are all important values 
that would benefit every American individual who chooses to observe 
them.
  The ``Lost Battalion'' is yet another group of that rare breed we 
call the Greatest Generation.
  And that's just the way it is.

[[Page 17387]]



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