USS HOUSTON CA 30
“The galloping Ghost of
the
Earl C. Humphrey
Obituary
Burlington Hawk-Eye Nov 27, 2000
Earl C. Humphrey, 80, 2778 Jefferson, Mount
Pleasant, died at 12:40 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 25, 2000, at Independence Regional
Health Center in Independence, Mo. Born Jan. 7, 1920, near Glasgow,
he was the son of Burton Litton and Maggie Hudson Humphrey. On Dec. 28, 1946,
he married Marine Stark in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Mr. Humphrey was a foreman and inspector for the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant
in Middletown before his retirement. He lived most of his life near Mount
Pleasant. He was a World War II Navy veteran and an Elder in the Reorganized
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Mount Pleasant.
Survivors include his wife; one daughter, Sharon Hannah of Independence;
two grandchildren; and one brother, Howard Humphrey of Burlington. He was
preceded in death by his parents, three brothers and one sister.
Visitation will be from 6:30 until 8 p.m. today at Behner
Funeral Home in Fairfield. The funeral for Mr. Humphrey will be at 1 p.m.
Tuesday at Behner Funeral Home, with Elder Larry Jannings officiating. Burial with military rites will be in
Evergreen Cemetery in Fairfield.
A memorial has been established for the USS Houston Survivors Association,
5848 Backbay Lane, Austin, TX 78739.
POW
Information
From: Dana Charles
To: 'Jay Hannah'
Cc: sue@usshouston.org; jo@usshouston.org; johnk.schwarz@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 3:17 PM
Subject: RE: Our trip to Hellfire Pass
USS HOUSTON CA-30 Survivors Association
and Next Generations
http://www.usshouston.org/
Dear Jay,
Below is information pertaining
to your grandfather's POW record,
which was kept during most of the Pacific War by
fellow USS Houston crewmen.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Turns out, Mr. Humphrey was in
Saigon with the same POW group as my
father, the late Howard Robert Charles, a Marine
survivor of USS Houston.
Sincerely,
Dana
R. Dana Charles
V.P./Volunteer Correspondent, Researcher
USS HOUSTON (CA-30) Survivors Association
And Next Generations
[Son of Howard Robert "Bob" Charles
US Marine Survivor
USS Houston (CA-30)]
contact@usshouston.org
Earl Chapman Humphrey
USS HOUSTON (CA-30) Survivor
(This information is from the archives of the USS HOUSTON (CA-30) Survivors
Association, which includes copies of individual records that were
maintained (secretly) in the POW-J camps on
each enlisted Navy survivor of
USS HOUSTON (CA-30) by fellow survivors including John Harrell and P. R.
Clark; Harrell was a yeoman aboard the ship, and Clark, an Ensign. Both
were
prisoners of war of the Japanese with 366
of their shipmates after USS
HOUSTON was sunk on 1 March 1942 in Sunda
Strait. - R. Dana
Charles).
Earl Chapman Humphrey AMM3/c
(USN Service Number: 321-30-98)
DOB: 1/7/20
Enl: 4/18/39; Enl
at: Des Moines, Iowa
Joined USS HOUSTON (CA-30): 8/1939
Blood Type: "O"
Paid: 2/15/42; Bal: $00.00; Religion: Protestant
Next of Kin: Father: Mr. Bert Litton Humphrey, Salem, Iowa.
POW #10166 V (Group 5 of the Burma-Thailand Railway)
Prisoner of War Camps of Imperial Japanese Forces
* Became P.O.W.: 1 March 1942: Serang, Java,
Netherlands East Indies.
* Bicycle Camp, Batavia, Java, N.E.I.
* 11 Oct 1942 - 16 Oct 1942: Hellship Voyage from
Java to Singapore.
* 16 Oct 1942 - Arrived at Singapore, Changi POW
Camp.
* 7 Jan 1943 - Left Singapore by train; Arrived 11 Jan 1943 -Panang, Malaya.
* 11 Jan 1943 - Aboard hellship "Mojo Maru."
* 17 Jan 1943 - Arrived: Moulmein, Burma - Was with "Group 5"
under the
Command of COL B.
Tharp, 131st Field Artillery/2nd Battalion, US Army.
* 27 Jan 1943 - Train ride from Moulmein, Burma; with Main Group at 18 Kilo
Camp, Alepauk, Burma.
* 9 September 1943 - Transferred to 83 Kilo Camp.
* 30 October 1943 - Rejoined at 100 Kilo Camp.
* 24 December 1943 - Applied for N.S.I., Amount $5,000 (Five Thousand
Dollars)
per standing order #33 of LTCOL T.
Ishii, I.J.A., Chief #3 Branch of Thai
P.O.W.s. Certified and dispatched:
P.R. Clark, Ensign (SC), USN.
* 29 February 1944 - Transferred 105 Kilo Camp to Kanchanburi,
Thailand.
* 3 April 1944 - Transferred from Kanburi on
"Japan Party" under CAPT I. H.
Fowler, 131st
Field Artillery/2nd Battalion, USA.
* August 1944 - Reported in Saigon, French Indo-China
* 15 August 1945 - Japan Surrenders.
Process of liberating American POWS
of the Japanese begins.
USS Houston (CA-30): Sunk at Battle of Sunda
Strait, 1 March 1942.
USS HOUSTON (CA-30)
The Northampton Class heavy cruiser was sunk with HMAS PERTH during the
allied defense of the Netherlands East Indies off
the Java coast on 1 March
1942 at the "Battle of Sunda Strait." Of the HOUSTON's 1,060-man crew, only
368 survived the battle, including 33 Marines of Houston's detachment of 74
Marines; all were captured on Java by Japanese invasion forces. Also
captured on Java in March 1942 were some
550 US Army survivors of the 131st
Field Artillery/2nd Battalion/36 Regiment who had participated in the
allied
defense of the island under the command
of Dutch military authorities. The
Japanese interned survivors of both American military units, along with
British, Australian prisoners of war in a POW camp in Batavia, Java known
as
"Bicycle Camp"-a former headquarters of a Dutch military bicycle
unit.
The Burma-Thailand Railway construction project
Mr. Humphrey was one of the American POWS of the POW labor force
"Group 5,"
which worked primarily on the Burma side of the
Burma-Thailand Railway
Project, starting in January 1943. POW camps in Burma were named according
to distance from Thanbyuzat-the
base camp located at the end of the railway
line in Burma. Thus, "18 Kilo Camp"
refers to the labor camp located along
the railway line at approximately 18
kilometers from Thanbyuzat, Burma. The
Japanese forced approximately 61,000 allied POWS and some 200,000 Asian
men,
women, and children into the labor camps of the
railway, which was
officially completed in October 1943. Since
approximately 13,500 allied POWS
and 80,000 or more Asians perished during
construction, the infamous railway
line has been known as the "railway of
death." The highly fictionalized,
Academy Award-winning 1957 movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was based on
the construction of the Burma-Thailand
Railway.
Saigon, French Indo-China POW Camps
In April, 1944 a group of 198 American POWS that included 85 Navy men, 8
Marines of USS Houston (CA-30), and 105 soldiers
of 131st Field
Artillery/2nd BN, were moved from the camps of the Burma-Thailand Railway
under the senior US officer CAPT Ira H. Fowler
of the 131st FA, believing
that they were headed to POW camps in Japan. Instead, the Japanese
transported the so-called "Japan
Party" to Saigon, French Indo-China, where
the POW camp was located on the Rue Jean Eudel in the southern end of the
city along the river. Japanese guards forced
POW work parties to labor at
the dock yards and airfields, which
increasingly became targets of US
bombing raids during the final year of
the Pacific War.
August, 1945:
Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945. Most USS Houston (CA-30) Survivors
that
were liberated in SE Asia after the Japanese
surrender, including the
American POWS-J in Saigon, French Indo-China (Vietnam), were transported by
US air transport forces to a general military hospital facility in
Calcutta,
India, where they briefly recuperated prior to their return to the United
States. American POWS in Saigon were
officially liberated on 6 September
1945 when they arrived in Calcutta, India.
By the time allied forces located USS Houston survivors after the Pacific
War ended, only 291 were still alive. As prisoners of war, Houston survivors
endured 42-months of inhumane Japanese
treatment which included continuous
hard labor coupled with severe malnourishment,
tropical disease, beatings,
torture, and allied bombing raids.
According to the American Ex-Prisoners of War Association, Inc. (AXPOW),
Americans held as POWS of the Japanese during the Pacific War perished at a
far higher rate compared to Americans held as
POWS in Europe-some 39%
compared to 1%. -- RDC
Information compiled by:
R. Dana Charles