The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The BATTLE OF SUNDA STRAIT - 1942

I've been away for a few days, trying to figure out how to do an even better job on advocating for vet's and their issues. Here's one way ... just launched today and shared with Freeper Foxhole first. ping to whomever you feel might be interested.

Dear Freeper Foxhole friends, Free Republic Network chapter leaders and frontline Freeper fighters and property rights activists:

If Pinging or Bumping just isn't enough...
if a burning issue is like a burr in under your saddle...
if you don't like smut or wackos with your current voice chat application....

Stop in for a Bunker Moment. Our mission is simple... support our Freeper friends and destroy the enemy. Restore the our Bill of Rights from those who would strip us of them.

For a clearly superior Voice Chat application, give it a try tonight, especially during Mark's Night Talk Live. The password for tonight will be: freedom

This is a private venue with limited seating! Real first names or a verifiable Freeper handle are REQUIRED. You are welcome to use the room any time for family oriented, grassroots Freeper conservative discussions. Chat room Moderators will be present in PrimeTime hours (7 to 10 p.m.) and will sit in from time to time in off-peak hours. Keep in mind, we may have to cycle visitors from time to time to make room for new visitors. Lurkers are welcome if there's ample room or a program in progress.

To enter the Bunker Voice/Text Chat Room:
Name:	Password:

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I will be extending an invitation to some of our Free Republic friends in hopes of stimulating constructive dialogue. A key mission in this project is to support our good friend Mark William at KFBK and his new MSN Group at MarkTalk.com If you haven't joined his forum, please do. Be sure to check out Roger's Rant and the other great discussions. Mark as been a loyal friend to Free Republic and our issues.

As always, our primary focus remains our nation's veterans, military personnel and those who feed America; the endangered ranchers and farmers of America. We will be a small group at first and grow as the will to make a difference translates into ACTION. Out there in Freeperland are bright ideas, solutions and the resolve to see them through.

Dave (Comwatch) Jenest

HISTORY Of THE LOST BATTALION

This Organization is composed of the men of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery and those men who swam ashore from the Cruiser USS Houston (CA-30) when it was sunk, and who survived 42 months of "hell" as prisoners of the Japanese during World War II.

A Japanese fleet, consisting of an aircraft carrier, five cruisers, 11 destroyers and several PT boats was in the Strait, covering the landing of Jap troops from 40 transports. When the HMAS Perth and the USS Houston reached the strait late that night (February 28, 1942) they found themselves surrounded by enemy ships. After putting up a tremendous battle, first the HMAS Perth and then the USS Houston were sent to the bottom.

Only 368 of the total complement of 1011 men of the USS Houston managed to reach shore. The remaining 643 shipmates, including their skipper, Captain Rooks, went down with the ship. Within a few days, all the survivors became prisoners of the Japanese.

Within a few weeks, the Japanese had all of the American prisoners from the USS Houston and the 131st F. A. (less "E" Battery) together in the 10th Battalion Bicycle Camp, a former Dutch installation in Batavia (Jakarta) Java. Battery "E" remained in the Soerabaja area until moved to Nagasaki and other areas in Japan via Batavia and Singapore in November and December 1942. Thus, two Units of the American Armed Forces, consisting of 902 men, seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth (and became one unit), sacrificed in a clearly hopeless effort to save the Netherland East Indies from overwhelming numbers of the enemy. Now began an unbelievable string of events which, for some, would last three and one-half years and was to weld the "Phantoms" of the USS Houston (CA-30) and the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery together in a Bond closer than blood. This Army and Navy group of POWs suffered together through 42 months of humiliation, degradation, physical and mental torture, starvation and horrible tropical diseases, with no medication. The hardest part was watching friends die slowly, day by day, with the survivors often thinking, fleetingly, that maybe they were the "lucky ones."

One of the toughest pills to swallow was not being able to communicate with families and loved ones at home. Sharing all this mental and physical anguish together built a special relationship among the survivors and each man knows how the other will react in almost any "chips-down" situation and most are pleased at what they have learned about their fellow survivors. Moving by ship from Java to Singapore and thence to Burma, Thailand or Japan, the men were packed like cattle in the lower holds, taking turns sitting, squatting, standing or laying down while suffering from sea sickness, dysentery, malaria or other tropical diseases, while standing in their own, or their neighbor's filth, because it was impossible, or not permitted to get to the ship side latrine on the main deck. Then, the men worked in the steaming jungles and the "monsoon" seasons of Burma chopping down jungle trees, hand building road beds and bridges and laying ties and rails with primitive tools in construction of the now infamous "Burma-Siam Death Railway". Some of the men were mining coal and/or working on the docks in Japan while living in sub-standard housing, without any heat or sufficient cover during two Japanese winters, where real starvation was a daily companion. Of the 902 men taken Prisoner, 668 were sent to Burma and Thailand and worked on the "Death Railway" (of Bridge on the River Kwaii fame). Of the total 163 men who died in Prisoner of War Camps, 133 died working on the railroad. After completion of the railroad, 236 of the men were disbursed to Japan and other Southeast Asian Countries to work in coal mines, shipyards, docks, etc. and a few remained at "Bicycle Camp" in Java.

Quite a few of the men were killed by American submarines while en-route to Singapore and Japan and more were killed by American bombers. When liberated, the men were scattered throughout locations in Southeast Asia: Java, Singapore, Burma, Thailand, French Indo China, Japan, China and Manchuria, to name most of them.

The wives of some of the men of the 2nd Battalion 131st F. A. arranged to have a "Welcome Home" celebration in Wichita Falls, Texas on October 23, 1945. The idea "snow-balled" and all survivors that had returned to the U. S. (and could be located) were invited to attend. Such a good time was had at this Reunion, that it was decided to meet every year, on the weekend nearest August 15th. The first Reunion was designed to Honor the 2nd Battalion, 131st F. A. survivors, who had been nicknamed "TEXAS LOST BATTALION," by the news media of Texas, since that Battalion had disappeared when the Island of Java had surrendered. No one knew where they were, apparently including the War Department and nothing was heard from them for about three years. Of course, the people who arranged for the first reunion, did not know of the existence of the LISS Houston prisoners, but the oversight was put to right by Battalion personnel, who invited some of their "buddies" to the first Reunion and made them permanent members of the "Lost Battalion Association" at the next reunion and the Survivors of the USS Houston (CA-30) voted to become a part of the Association.

So, each year since 1945, the survivors of the POW "hell" along with their families, meet in August to keep their Bond of Brotherhood inviolate and to remember and pay honor to the 163 who died in Prison Camps and the 504 who have died since liberation and the 646 who died in action, in a futile effort to save Java. As of July 1, 1998, there were 236 of the men of the Lost Battalion Association left alive.

It may be of interest that, (1) the 2nd Battalion, 131st F. A., 36th Infantry Division (TNG) is the "Most Decorated Unit" in Texas of any War and (2) the Heavy Cruiser USS Houston (CA-301, is the "Most Decorated" vessel of it's class in the U. S. Fleet.

Current Military News
U.S. Soldier Loses Foot In Mine Explosion

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2002 — An American soldier lost his right foot Jan. 9 when he stepped on a land mine at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, outside the capital city of Kabul. A U.S. military spokesman at Bagram said the soldier was participating in a mine-clearing operation at about 9 a.m. local time when he stepped into an uncleared area and tripped the mine.

U.S. officials this morning reported the soldier is in stable condition and en route to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. A Polish soldier was also injured in the explosion, but no details were available on the extent of his injuries or his condition.

An Afghan contract worker also was injured seriously Jan. 9 in a separate mine explosion at the air base. He underwent surgery at the U.S. Army hospital on Bagram and is listed currently in critical condition.

Here's the other version: IYAAYAS! If You Ain't Ammo You Ain't S!!t

That is more well known.

LOL! How'd I know someone, somewhere had a pin or badge made of that.