Howard Brooks is one of the 368 survivors of the crew. Of the 15 alive today, two were able to attend this year’s event. | Brianna Leigh Morrison/The Daily Cougar
Friends, family and survivors of the USS Houston’s crew gathered around an exhibit featuring memorabilia from the ship — including blueprints and a photograph of the crew — in the University of Houston library to remember the fallen.
The heavy cruiser was sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait on March 1, 1942. There were 1,068 crew members on the ship — only 368 survived. The survivors swam to shore, but were held captive by the Japanese for nearly four years.
The event was held from 1:30. to 3 p.m. in the Rockwell Pavilion. Julie Grob, Special Collections Coordinator of Digital Projects and Instruction opened up the event by telling the guests about the Survivor Association, founded in 1946.
Two of the goals of the Association are to digitize materials such as diaries, scrapbooks and photos of the crew and to preserve the historic authenticity of the items, Grob said.
The Survivor’s Association is interested in the history of the ship, Grob said, and is in possession of photographs and letters from war camps. It is interested in acquiring more items for the collection.
“It’s very important to understand the historic value of veteran experience relative to all of our military experience,” said Allen Grundy, director of the Veterans’ Service Office at UH.
“If you don’t know your past, you don’t know where you’re going.”
