The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992 Page: 296
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Hzstorical Quarterly
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Texans were part of
a convoy sailing a short distance east of the Gilbert Islands. Unable
to reach the Philippines because the Japanese rapidly gained control
of the air and water around the islands, the convoy stopped briefly
in Australia for two weeks. The Texans then proceeded to Java on
January i1, 1942, to reinforce the Dutch-British-Australian forces in
preparation for the expected Japanese invasion of the Netherlands
East Indies.7
On February 27, 1942, the Japanese invaded the East Indies, and by
March 1 they had 40,000 troops ashore. Convinced that resistance was
futile, the Allied High Command capitulated on March 8. Included
among the 32,500 Allied troops taken prisoner was the 131st Field Ar-
tillery. E Battery, however, was not with the main force at this time. It
had previously transfered to another part of Java and never again re-
joined its fellow Texans. After several months of incarceration at a sep-
arate prison camp, the ninety-five men of E Battery departed for Japan
and thus did not toil on the Burma-Thailand Railroad.8
The rest of the 131 st remained in Java for seven months, and during
this period they learned the rudiments of proper behavior expected of
prisoners of war. Confronted by the Code of Bushido, which viewed
surrender under any conditions as a disgrace, and the brutal authori-
tarianism of the Japanese army, which recognized corporal punish-
ment as a standard disciplinary measure within its own ranks, the Tex-
ans quickly perceived the importance of coming to terms with this alien
culture. Inadequate food, beatings, unsanitary living conditions, and
humiliation became commonplace occurrences to be dealt with for the
next 3V/2 years. Thomas Whitehead, a twenty-one-year-old member
of Service Battery from Wichita Falls, succinctly identified the atti-
tude adopted by him and his comrades under these conditions: "They
[Japanese] were in power. We were at their mercy, really, so as a matter
of survival you had to comply with their rules."'
7Craven and Cates (eds ), The Aimy An Forces in WoIld War II, 226, Allen, The Lost Battalion,
15-24; Fillmore, Prisoner of Wa,, 4-5, Dunn, The Bamboo Express, 7-8, Samuel Eliot Molison,
The Two Ocean War. A Short Ilstory of the United States Navy in the Second World Wai (Boston.
Little, Brown, and Co, 1963), 78-82, Walter D Edmonds, They Fought With What They llad
The Story of the Army Azn Forces in the Southwest Pacific, 1941-1942 (Boston: Little, Brown, and
Co, 1951), 300.
sRoster, Lost Battalon Association, 1985, 11, Allen, The Lost Battalion, 19-50, 48-73, Fillnore,
Prsoner of War, 4-14, Dunn, The Bamboo Expiess, 7-23, Anthony Reid and Oki Akira (eds ),
The Japanese Experience in Indonessa Selected Memoirs of 1942-1945 (Athens. Ohio University,
Center for International Studies, Center for Asian Studies, 1986), 36-39
9Thomas A Whitehead to R E M , Feb 2, 1977, interview, transcript (OH 366), 48 For
other accounts of adapting to POW life during this seven-month stay on Java, see the following
interviews by the author: Hard (OH 510), 84-94, Raymond Reed, Mar. 13, 1979, transcript
(OH 486), 85-94; Houston Wright, Aug. 15, 1978, transcript (OH 466), 60-92; Julius B
Heinen, Oct. 29, 1973, transcript (OH 174), 46-98, Clark 'laylor, Sept. 14, 1979, transcript296
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992, periodical, 1992; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117153/m1/356/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.