USS HOSTON CA 30
"The
Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast"
David
DuBois
My
interest in USS Houston goes back many years. I served in the Navy from 1970 to
1976 and spent a tour in Vietnam. As part of that time, I spent some time in
the Philippines, and visited Corregidor and other areas impacted by WW2. After
returning home I went to college, attaining a degree in Graphic Design and went
to work for the New York Times at one of the papers they owned in Florida, my
home state. My father served as an intelligence officer with the 17th Airborne
in Europe, so I always heard his stories of Europe, but I had other relatives
that served in the Pacific. It always struck me as the Pacific was almost a
"forgotten war" in terms of the amount of press coverage they received.
As far as most people seem to know, the war in the Pacific consisted of Pearl
Harbor, the Jimmy Doolittle Raid, Midway, and some atomic bombs, end of story.
I
suffered a compression fracture in my back in Vietnam, and it bothered me over
the years, getting progressively worse. Since I would never go near a VA
hospital, I just put up with it, taking Advil or prescription drugs for the
pain. In 2007, it got so bad I had to do something, so I went to a major
hospital that specialized in neurosurgery to have something done. The doctors
always go through the list of "worst case" scenarios (that everyone
ignores) but unfortunately, I hit the 1/10 of 1%. The doctor cut into my spinal
cord, leaving me with a permanent spinal cord injury.
I
enrolled at the local community college, just to take a couple of on line
classes to occupy my mind, and even though I had a degree from long ago, most
of those classes didn't apply to the History degree that I thought I would
pursue. I had taught at a community college part time for 6 years back in the
90's, so I thought I could do that again, despite my physical limitations. A
semester there gave me a AA
degree, and I transferred to the University of Memphis, I lived about an hour
west of Memphis, which also offered a full blown History degree online. I
continued to take online classes while I got stronger, and learned to live with
a spinal cord injury. After a year and a half, I was strong enough to actually
take physical classes on campus,
the variety of online classes was minimal at best. So I graduated with
Bachelor's degrees in History and Political Science in 2012. East Tennessee
State University offered me a full academic scholarship, so my wife and I put
our house up for sale that is in West Tennessee, and moved here in the summer
of 2012.
As
to what got me interested in the Houston? I had read some Pacific war history
that said that when the Japanese attacked the Philippines, Dugout Doug
MacArthur was catatonic on the floor of his hotel suite for more than 8 hours.
I had studied MacArthur and REALLY took an active dislike to him, his actions
with the Bonus Army and his lack of ability overall. That led to his
confrontation with Admiral Thomas Hart, and from there to the USS Houston. My
area of concentration in History is early 20th Century American History,
especially military history, so in studying FDR, I again came across Houston.
I have to do a large Thesis as part of my graduation requirements, and
the Asiatic Fleet seemed the perfect choice. It is not a popular subject, and I
thought this story should be told.
I
have an RV that is set up for my needs, so my wife and I took last summer off
to research everything I could find in the National Archives in Washington DC,
and the Naval Museum at the Washington Naval Yard. So, after nearly a year
of research and writing, it is almost done. I have to finish the editing,
submit it to my Thesis committee, have an oral defense of my Thesis where I
defend my findings, and if successful, I graduate in May.
.
Thanks,
David DuBois
duboisd@goldmail.etsu.edu