"God Knows What's Going to Happen to Us": The Lost Battery of Texas's "Lost Battalion" during World War II

The Battle ofJava, 1942. Cartography by Robert Pace. "God Knows What's Going to Happen to Us'' The Lost Battery ofTexas's "Lost Battalion " during World War II ? Kelly E. Crager* 46"J-NEVER DID GIVE UP. I NEVER HEARD AN AMERICAN THAT WAS IN the service say, Tm not going home.' He'd say, ' When I'm going .home. When I go home.' You never heard one say, ? don't think I'll ever make it.' You never heard one say that—never." Such was the impression of Clyde Shelton, a young Texan who was taken captive by theJapanese in March 1942 and spent the remainder ofWorld War II as a prisoner of war. Shelton was one of ninety-nine members of E Battery, 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment, 36th Division. The 2nd Battalion has been aptly named the "Lost Battalion," and its history is relatively well known. Early in World War II, this small unit of Texas National Guardsmen was taken prisoner on Java; most of the group labored on the infamous Burma-Thailand "Death Railway" and suffered the appalling treatment that the Japanese meted out to those unfortunate souls whom they held captive.1 * Kelly E. Crager is head of the Oral History Project at the Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of North Texas, where his involvement wiüi the university's oral history program brought him into contact with surviving members of the "Lost Battalion." The author would like to offer special thanks to Todd Moye, director of the Oral History Program at the University of North Texas, for providing access to the program's oral history holdings. He also wants to thank Eric Van Slander of the National Archives and Brian Schenk, curator of the archive at the Texas Military Forces Museum, Camp Mabry, Austin. 1 Clyde Shelton to Ronald E. Marcello, July 27, 1987, interview transcript (OH 700), 140. All oral history interviews cited in this study are located in the University Archives, Willis Library, at the University of North Texas in Denton. All interviews were conducted by Ronald E. Marcello. Where necessary , I have supported individual testimonies with corroborating evidence from a number of other persons' recollections, as well as with personal memoirs and supporting documentary evidence gadiered by the U.S. government in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The 2nd Battalion was taken prisoner virtually intact, and because the Japanese forbade prisoners to keep written records of their experiences, oral history interviews provide important information that is not otherwise available. Texas's "Lost Battalion" was captured by the Imperial Japanese Army on Java in March 1942. Wiüi the Vol. CXII, no. 1 Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJuly 2008 Southwestern Hütorical QuarterlyJuly Photograph of members of E Battery, 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment, taken in 1940. Front row (left to right): R. R.Jones, A. E. Hornsby, I. M. Lambert, W. A. Corder, R. V. Hargrove, W.L. Hargrove, C.Johnson; Middle row:J. M. Goodman, L. D. Allen, R. G. Cook,J. L. Bell, T. E. Bush, O. A. Claxton, B. W. Laningham, R. E. Green; Back row: I. F. Klepper, D. Heleman, H. C. Smith, W. G. Presley, G. D. Steakley, C. T. Johnson, G. C. Moates, R. L. Shaddix,J. B. Moates. Courtesy ofthe archive at the Texas Military Forces Museum, Camp Mabry, Austin. Not all members of the 2nd Battalion labored on the "Death Railway," however, and we must explore the experiences of E Battery (which are not well known) to gain a fuller understanding of the "Lost Battalion." Split off from the rest of the battalion just before the Battle ofJava, E Battery also succumbed to the Imperial Japanese Army on that island in March 1942. Although the men of E Battery spent die remainder of the war separated from the main unit, and although their work circumstances and location differed from those of the "Lost Battalion," the treatment they received from the Japanese and the characteristics that helped them survive captivity were similar. The story of E Battery, however , has received very litde attention. These men were forbidden to keep official and...