Survivors Mark the 70th Anniversary of the USS Houston's Sinking-- Part 3

The raft eventually washed ashore and the Americans were captured.

Both Flynn and Brooks spent the next three and a half years as Japanese prisoners. Brooks was one of the Houston's crew who was forced to build the Burma Railway, made famous inthe 1957 film "The Bridge Over the River Kwai." He said conditions were so bad he was continually 30 pounds underweight the whole time.

When news of the demise of the USS Houston reached its namesake, American patriotism was on display at a fever pitch. One thousand volunteered to replace the Houston's lost crew. There was a public swearing in ceremony where a message from President Roosevelt was read and broadcast around the world which said in part, "Our enemies have given us the chance to prove that there will be another USS Houston and yet another USS Houston if that becomes necessary, and still another USS Houston as long as American ideals are in jeopardy.

The American Spirit. --GreGen