U.S.S. Houston Plaque
Details:
Next to the HMAS Perth plaque under a tree close to the pavilion. Plaque
A brass inscribed plaque.
The plaque remembers the USS Houston (CA-30) which was sunk along with the HMAS Perth on March 1, 1942 during the Battle of Sunda Straight.
From the Australian National Maritime Museum:
The Battle of Sunda Strait: On the night of 28 February, the two ships sailed for Sunda Strait. They ran into most of the Japanese Western Invasion Convoy in Banten (Bantam) Bay – more than a dozen cruisers, destroyers and smaller ships guarding 60 transports. In the ensuing battle, Perth and Houston were repeatedly bombarded; both were struck by torpedoes and sank.
Prisoners of War: Men captured by the Japanese became POWs. They were moved from prison camp to prison camp over the next three years and many put to work building the Burma–Thai railway, along with 60,000 other Allied POWs and some 250,000 Asian laborers. Some were sent directly to Japan to work in coal and iron ore mines or on the docks loading and unloading Japanese ships. They endured the ordeal of filth, privation, sparse rations, disease and brutal punishment. They were bombed by their own planes and torpedoed at sea. In the end, only about 25 percent of the men who had fought at the Battle of Sunda Strait made it home.
Of Perth’s company of 686, including airmen and civilian personnel, only 218 returned to Australia. Of the 1,068 sailors, marines and airmen aboard Houston, only 261 returned to the United States.
Monument Text:
U.S.S. Houston
This plaque was dedicated on 27. 2. 92 by the survivors of H.M.A.S. Perth
In memory of this gallant ship and members of the Ships Company who paid the supreme sacrifice, and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the epic Battle of Sunda Strait
1. 3. 42
"Lest We Forget"
Commemorates:
People:
Units:
U.S.S. Houston (CA-30)
United States Navy
Wars:
WWII
Battles:
Battle of Sunda Straight
Pacific Theater
Other images :
