Survivors Mark the 70th Anniversary of the USS Houston's Sinking-- Part 2

Fifteen of the crew are still alive today and only two will be expected to make the reunion to be held in Houston last weekend. This is put on by the USS Houston CA-30 Survivors Association.

The Japanese sank it and the Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth shortly after midnight on March 1, 1942, during the Battle of Sunda Strait by Java. The Perth sank first, at 12:15 AM, and the Houston fought on alone until all its ammunition was gone.

During the engagement, Japanese planes dropped star shells which lit up the whole area so that it eerily resembled daylight. Said Howard Brooks, "We were so close we could see sailors on the decks of the Japanese destroyers."

David Flynn's battle station was way below deck in the plotting room. Bleeding from shrapnel wounds, he jumped into the water, "The name of the game was to distance yourself as quickly as possible from the ship, and you'd swim underwater to do this to avoid being machine-gunned."

A Japanese boat got him out of the water where he clung to the side of a life raft for three days and had to watch several shipmates die one by one while the Japanese did nothing to save them.

More to Come. --GreGen