I don't know how I wasn't aware of him, I have searched several times in the last few years trying to find out if any Houston survivors were still alive. Well, there was one until a few days ago.
I highly recommend this book:
Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the US...iser, and the Epic Saga of Her SurvivorsFrom the official USS HOUSTON CA30 page:
The U.S.S. Houston Survivors’ Association & Next Generations is very sad to report that U.S.S. Houston (CA-30) Survivor Robert “Bob” Leon Hanley passed away on September 12, 2024, at St. Therese Hospice, Shoreview, Minnesota. He was 102.
Mr. Hanley was the last-known survivor of U.S.S. Houston(CA-30).
Mr. Hanley was a Seaman 2nd Class at the time of U.S.S. Houston (CA-30)'s loss at the Battle of Sunda Strait on March 1, 1942. After his capture by Imperial Japanese forces on Java on March 1, 1942, Hanley and his 367 fellow U.S.S. Houston survivors were held on Java until October 1942 when most survivors were transported via Japanese “hellships” to Burma to work on the infamous Burma-Thailand Railway construction project.
As a POW medical orderly in the railway’s POW camps, he assisted Dutch POW doctor Henry Hekking in saving many lives of their fellow POWS. In early 1944, he served as a medical orderly with Australian prisoners of war and was then transferred to Kanchanaburi POW Camp in Thailand where the Bridge on the River Kwai is located. There, he was a medical orderly under U.S.S. Houston (CA-30)’s medical officer, CDR William A. Epstein, USN. When the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, Hanley was liberated from a POW camp roughly 80K south of Bangkok, Thailand.
We extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Robert L. Hanley.
Sincerely,
The Board of Managers, U.S.S. Houston (CA-30) Survivors’ Association & Next Generations
Sue Kreutzer, President
Dana Charles, Vice President/Correspondent
Pam Moura, Treasurer
Bernice Harapat, Secretary
John K. Schwarz, Executive Director
