Lost Battalion (Pacific, World War II)
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The Lost Battalion (Pacific, World War II) was the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Infantry Division (
Texas National Guard The Texas Military Forces (TXMF) are the principal instrument through which the Texas Military Department (TMD) executes security policy for Texas, which has the second-largest population and border in the United States, and the 9th-largest econ ...
) of the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
. The men of the battalion, plus the survivors of the sunken cruiser USS ''Houston'', were captured by the Japanese on the island of
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
in the
Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
(now
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
) in March 1942. It is called the lost battalion because the fate of the men was unknown to the United States until September 1944. They were
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...
for 42 months until the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. 534 soldiers from the battalion and 368 survivors of ''Houston'' were taken prisoner. Most of the men were sent to Thailand to work on the
Burma Railway The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 ...
, the building of which is portrayed in the film ''
The Bridge on the River Kwai ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the 1952 novel written by Pierre Boulle. Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943, the pl ...
''. Of the 902 soldiers and sailors taken captive, 163 died in captivity. Most of the
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...
were from western
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. Sergeant
Frank Fujita Frank Fujita (October 20, 1921 – December 11, 1996) was a Japanese American soldier of the US Army who, during his service in World War II became one of only two Japanese American combat personnel (the other being Richard Sakakida) to be capture ...
was a notable survivor who was a POW for three and a half years. He went on to write the memoir ''Foo: A Japanese-American Prisoner of the Rising Sun''.


2nd Battalion

The 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment (75mm Gun) (Truck-Drawn) was assigned to the 36th Division, Texas National Guard and was mobilized on 25 November 1940. The battalion of Texas soldiers consisted of a Headquarters Battery from Decatur and
Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accordin ...
, Firing Batteries D, E, and F from Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Jacksboro, a Service Battery from
Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northwe ...
and Plainview, and a Medical Detachment from Plainview. The majority of the men were from 18 to 22 years old. The battalion was armed with twelve (four per battery) 75mm M1897A4 guns known as "French seventy-fives." The Battalion sailed from San Francisco on 21 November 1941 assigned to the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
, but with the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific the convoy was rerouted to
Brisbane, Australia Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
. After
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in Brisbane, the Battalion sailed again on a Dutch freighter, arriving on the island of Java on 11 January 1942 with 558 men. The 2nd Battalion was the only U.S. ground force to arrive in the Dutch East Indies. The mission of the Battalion was to help the Dutch defend the islands from a possible Japanese invasion, which in fact began on 27 February 1942. During the
Battle of Java The Battle of Java (Invasion of Java, Operation J) was a battle of the Pacific War, Pacific theatre of World War II. It occurred on the island of Java (island), Java from 28 February – 12 March 1942. It involved forces from the Empire of Ja ...
, the Battalion distinguished itself supporting the Australian defense of Leuwiliang and fighting alongside the Dutch at
Porong Porong is a district in Sidoarjo Regency, East Java, Indonesia. It has a population of 68,243 (2018). Located about south of the regency seat, it bordered by Krembung in the west, Pasuruan Regency in the south, Tanggulangin in the north. Villages ...
. The Battalion would later be awarded a Presidential Unit Citation. On 8 March 1942, the allies in the Dutch East Indies surrendered to the Japanese. Among the 32,500 soldiers taken prisoner, mostly Dutch, British, and Australian, were 534 members of the U.S. battalion, 21 men of the original 558 having been transferred and three killed in action. 99 of the American POWs were from E Battery which had been detached from the main body of the battalion. They would have a different POW history than the others.


USS ''Houston''

USS ''Houston'' was commissioned in 1929 and had a crew of 1,100. On 3 Nov 1941, ''Houston'' left the United States and sailed to the Philippines, arriving 19 November, to become the flagship of the United States' Asiatic Fleet. She was at sea on 7 December when the Pacific War began and spent the first two months of the war escorting convoys from Australia to the Dutch East Indies. On 3 February 1942, ''Houston'' was damaged in an air attack at the
Battle of Makassar Strait The Battle of Makassar Strait, also known as the Action of Madura Strait, the Action North of Lombok Strait and the Battle of the Flores Sea, was a naval battle of the Pacific theater of World War II. An American-British-Dutch-Australian (AB ...
which killed 48 men. ''Houston'' also participated in the
Battle of the Java Sea The Battle of the Java Sea ( id, Pertempuran Laut Jawa, ja, スラバヤ沖海戦, Surabaya oki kaisen, Surabaya open-sea battle, Javanese : ꦥꦼꦫꦁ​ꦱꦼꦒꦫꦗꦮ, romanized: ''Perang Segara Jawa'') was a decisive naval battle o ...
on 27 February before being sunk in the
Battle of Sunda Strait The Battle of Sunda Strait was a naval battle which occurred during World War II in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java, and Sumatra. On the night of 28 February 1 March 1942, the Australian light cruiser , American heavy cruiser , ...
on 28 February – 1 March 1942, along with the Australian light cruiser and the Dutch destroyer HNLMS ''Evertsen''. 696 crew members died; the remaining 368 were captured and made prisoners of war by the Japanese.


Burma railway

The captured American soldiers and sailors were held for seven months in a prison camp on Java along with thousands of Dutch, British, and Australian soldiers. In October 1942, they were taken to Singapore and 668 of them then continued onward to
Moulmein Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at th ...
,
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. In Singapore about 140 of the Americans with industrial skills were separated from the main body and sent to Japan to work there. The Americans were part of a group of about 300,000 workers, mostly Southeast Asians but including 66,000 POWs, put to work building the railroad that would cross the mountains for a distance of between Burma and Thailand. Before World War II, the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
had contemplated building the railway, but had rejected the idea. For more than a year, the Asian laborers and POWs worked on the railway using only hand tools. It was completed on October 23, 1943. Conditions during the construction were brutal. The POWs and other workers suffered from insufficient food, poor medical care, murderous guards, and heavy work quotas. Tens of thousands died during the construction, including 133 Americans, 19.6 percent of the total number of American POWs who worked on the Burma railway. By the end of the construction only about 40 of the Americans were still capable of manual labor. After the completion of the railroad, the survivors of the Lost Battalion were separated, some remaining to maintain the railroad, others being assigned to work in Thailand or Vietnam, and some sent to Japan to labor in coal mines on
Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...
. 18 Americans were killed on June 24, 1944, when an American submarine sank the Japanese freighter on which they were traveling en route to Japan.


E Battery

The 99 men of E Battery were captured and held prisoner separately from the other personnel of the lost battalion. Captured in early March 1942, E Battery was housed initially in
Surabaja Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...
with Dutch, British, and Australian soldiers. In October 1942 they were sent to
Changi Prison Changi Prison Complex, often known simply as Changi Prison, is a prison in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore. History First prison Before Changi Prison was constructed, the only penal facility in Singapore was at Pearl's Hill, beside t ...
in Singapore on board an overcrowded cargo ship and in November they were sent by ship to
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to work in the shipyards there. In June 1945 they were moved again to labor in coal mines on
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and remained there until the end of the war in August. Ninety-one of the members of E Battery survived the war.


The Lost Battalion is found

American authorities had no information about the fate of the lost battalion until September 16, 1944. On that date, American submarines sank two Japanese freighters which were transporting more than 2,000 British and Australian POWs to Japan. The surviving POWs told the U.S. that American soldiers from the Second Battalion and sailors from USS ''Houston'' had worked with them on the Burma railroad. After the end of the war in August 1945, the POWs of the lost battalion were repatriated from their various locations to the United States. Of 534 personnel of the 2nd Battalion taken prisoner, 86 (16%) died in captivity. Of 368 Navy and Marine Corps personnel taken prisoner, 77 (21%) died in captivity. Five commissioned officers (3 percent of the total dead) were among those dying in captivity. About 10 percent of the prisoners were officers."Lost Battalion Association", http://www/texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/lostbattalion/stats.htm, accessed 1 Jan 2015. Statistics of total personnel and deaths vary slightly depending upon the source; Evans, David "An Overly Large Officers Corps is Costing us Plenty", ''Chicago Tribune'', March 25, 1988, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-03-25/news/8803030455_1_army-officer-enlisted-lieutenant-colonels, accessed 2 Jan 2015


References

{{reflist World War II prisoners of war held by Japan Thailand in World War II Indonesia in World War II Japanese war crimes Japanese prisoner of war and internment camps Field artillery battalions of the United States Army Military history of Burma during World War II