Remembering the Last Survior of the USS Houston (CA-30)

After a few false starts, Minnesota Congressman Pete Stauber (R-MN) inserted in the July 15, 2025, Congressional Record a memorial to Bob Hanley, the last survivor of the sinking of the USS Houston (CA-30) off the coast of Java in the Sunda Strait on February 29, 1942 (a leap year). Seaman Hanley became a POW of Japan for over three years and survived the infamous Thai-Burma Death Railway.

The Congressman's staffer, unfamiliar with the history and geography, misinterpreted my suggestion that the statement be issued on April 9 in conjunction with National Former POW Recognition Day and the anniversary of the fall of Bataan. I told him that the soldiers of Company A of the 194th Provisional Tank Battalion who fought on the Bataan Peninsula and who also became POWs of Japan were from Brainerd, which is in his boss's district. 

It turned out that the staffer put aside the statement for months and did not have me review the draft. The result was an insertion for the Congressional Record on July 10 that had Seaman Hanley surviving both the sinking of the USS Houston and the Bataan Death March a month later, 2,000 miles away. As you cannot delete a insertion for the record, a new, corrected statement was issued on July 15, 2025. It is below.

This account is not to embarrass either the congressman or the staffer. It is only to illustrate how much isnow forgotten. With the U.S. military returning to the Pacific, often to many of the places the U.S. fought and built temporary bases, it is even more important to remember this history and these places on the map. To honor the American POWs and the veterans of the Pacific War is to learn the lesson of the men left behind on the Philippines, Wake, Guam, and the Sunda Strait. We need to be prepared.

[Extensions of Remarks]

[Page E672]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


        HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ROBERT L. "BOB" HANLEY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PETE STAUBER

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 15, 2025

  Mr. STAUBER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary 
life of Seaman Second Class Robert L. ``Bob'' Hanley, the last living 
survivor of the sinking of the USS Houston (CA-30) in the Sunda Strait 
off the coast of Java on February 29, 1942, ending the storied U.S. 
Asiatic Fleet.

  As one of only 368 of the ship's complement of 1,060 to survive this 
sea battle, he showcased American grit, tenacity, and commitment in the 
fight against fascism and tyranny. He endured multiple POW camps, 
``hell ships'' to Singapore and Burma, and slave labor on the infamous 
Thai-Burma Death Railway.

  His nearly four years of as a POW of Japan were marked by starvation, 
torture, and beatings. As a POW medical orderly, he labored without 
medicines and supplies to save the lives of his fellow brutalized POWs. 
He, himself, survived bouts of dysentery, malaria, and pellagra. At 
liberation in August 1945, he was among just 291 remaining USS Houston 
(CA-30) survivors.

  Bob's resilience never wavered, and his service did not end with his 
Navy discharge in 1947. He continued serving his country by enlisting 
in the U.S. Army for 15 years. After his military career, he worked in 
security at 3M for another 15 years, retiring in 1978 due to medical 
issues caused by his wartime imprisonment.

  Throughout his life, Bob's deep faith as a devout member of the 
Catholic Church of Saint Peter in Forest Lake, Minnesota, guided him 
through the darkest times and brightest moments, serving as a 
cornerstone of his strength. On September 12, 2024, Seaman Second Class 
Robert L. Hanley passed away at 102 years old. May he rest in peace.

The Atomic Bombings and some events

PURCHASE BOOK

80th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings

By Takuya Nishimura, APP Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for The Hokkaido Shimbun.

The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with The Hokkaido Shimbun.
You can find his blog, J Update here.
August 11, 2025. Special to Asia Policy Point

This month the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemorated the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings in 1945. While the sufferers of the atomic bombs, or hibakusha, aspire to eternal peace without the devastation of nuclear weapons, the gap between their hopes and the reality of world politics has widened. Hibakusha face a challenging task in handing their movement over to next generation, as the sufferers in Hiroshima and Nagasaki pass away.
 
In Hiroshima, in the Declaration of Peace at the Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6, the Mayor, Kazumi Matsui, introduced a story of an unnamed man who was injured by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. “Building a peaceful world without nuclear weapons will demand our never-give-up spirit. We have to talk and keep talking to people who hold opposing views,” Matsui said, quoting words of the hibakusha.
 
That unnamed man is thought to be Sunao Tsuboi who shook hands and had a short conversation with then U.S. President Barack Obama on his visit to Hiroshima in May 2016. “Never give up” is the phrase Tsuboi likes to use in his conversations. He once told me that he came to pursue peace and to hate war. Instead of continuing the resentment he held against America after the end of the war, he realized that retaliation would produce nothing. This principle is commonly held by the hibakusha.
 
Mayor Matsui also warned against a growing perception that “nuclear weapons are essential for national defense,” a view that he and many other believe heightens the risk of the use of these weapons.
 
In Nagasaki, Mayor, Shiro Suzu urged in his Nagasaki Peace Declaration on August 9 for the world to take the path to a peaceful future through dialogue with different people. Suzuki pressed world leaders to end disputes that are based on a principle of “force is met with force.”
 
One event at which the world community seemed to meet the hopes of the hibakusha was the award of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization, or Nihon Hidankyo. The Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized that “Nihon Hidankyo has carried out extensive educational work on the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. Hence the motto ‘No more Hibakusha.’”
 
However, the reality of world politics has recently visited more disappointments on the hibakusha. Recognizing that it can use its nuclear weapons stockpile to blackmail Ukraine, Russia has continued its war. Commenters have noticed that the invasion by a country with nuclear weapons of another that abandoned nuclear weapons undermines the international non-proliferation regime. Ukraine gave up its status of the world’s third largest nuclear power with the Budapest Memorandum in 1994.
 
A growing concern among the hibakusha is the fact that the nuclear powers are increasing their involvement in international conflicts. Despite efforts to find a peace deal in the Gaza Strip, Israel – widely thought to have nuclear weapons capability – has continued to destroy cities in the region to eliminate a terrorist organization, Hamas. India and Pakistan, both of which are recognized as nuclear powers, exchanged military strikes in May over a terrorist attack in Kashmir.
 
The hibakusha were astonished that the U.S. conducted air strikes in June on three of Iran’s nuclear sites. Aggravating the situation for the hibakusha was U.S. President Donald Trump’s justification for the attacks on Iran as a means of ending the conflict between Iran and Israel. Trump likened the U.S. attack on Iran to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, characterizing the strikes on Iran as “essentially the same thing.” “Nothing has changed 80 years after the war,” said one of the hibakusha.
 
The survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are also frustrated with the diplomacy of the government of Japan on nuclear non-proliferation. In their peace declarations, Matsui and Suzuki strongly recommended that the government join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, issued by the United Nations in 2017. The Japanese government has routinely rejected that request because Japan is under nuclear umbrella of the U.S.
 
In his speeches at the ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Prime Minister Ishiba stressed Japan’s efforts toward “the world without nuclear weapons” not through the 2017 UN treaty, but the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1970. Ishiba also quoted the Hiroshima Action Plan, a plan first proposed by his predecessor Fumio Kishida in a speech to NPT Review Conference in 2022. The plan would preclude the use of nuclear weapons and enhance the transparency of a country’s nuclear development.
 
When we look at the reality of the hibakusha, they are decreasing year after year. Hibakusha who have kept their copies of the Atomic Bomb Survivor’s Handbook, issued by Japanese government, fell below 100,000 in 2024. It means we have fewer and fewer people who can talk about the direct experience of the devastation brought by atomic bombs. How the narratives of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be passed down to future generations is an important – and unresolved – question.
 
In his peace declaration, Matsui urged young people to think less about themselves and more about each other. “Clearly, nations, too, must look beyond narrow self-interest to consider the circumstances of other nations,” Matsui said. This tenet is grounded in the  preamble to the Constitution of Japan, which states that “no nation is responsible for itself alone.” While Hiroshima’s hope for peace is as fresh as ever, the reality of the world, including that in Japan, looks as if the great tragedy of the atomic bombings has been forgotten.

###

BOOK TALK: RAIN OF RUIN BY RICHARD OVERY. 10/7, 6:30-8:30pm (BST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Imperial War Museums. Speaker: author Richard Overy, one of Britain’s most distinguished historians. https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-in-conversation-richard-overy-rain-of-ruin. Fee. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/45hyoOU

---

POP CULTURE, PROPAGANDA, AND POLITICS: REFLECTIONS ON THE PACIFIC WAR 80 YEARS LATER: 2025 ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 10/17-18, HYBRID. Sponsor: Admiral Nimitz Foundation at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. Speakers: Richard B. Frank, an internationally recognized leading authority on the Asia-Pacific War; Rob Buscher, a film and media specialist; Janet M. Davis, Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Texas at Austin; Dr. Ambyre Ponivas, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and Psychology at Young Harris College in Georgia; Steven Rawle, Professor of Film at York St John University, UK; Henry Sledge is the son of Eugene B. Sledge, author of With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa and China Marine. https://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/education/museum-programs/conference 

THE SURRENDER OF JAPAN: ORCHESTRATING THE END OF THE WAR. 9/2, 11:00am-Noon, HYBRID. Sponsor: National WWII Museum. Speaker: Colonel Mike Bell, PhD, Executive Director of the Museum’s Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/events-programs/events/137098-surrender-japan-orchestrating-end-war

2025 CONFERENCE TO HONOR 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF END OF WORLD WAR II. 8/30-9/2. IN PERSON ONLY, Hilton Garden Inn, Arlington, VA. Sponsor: American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society. Various presentations on the American POW experience with Imperial Japan. https://www.adbcmemorialsociety.org/

FINALE IN THE PACIFIC: THE ROAD TO JAPAN'S SURRENDER. 8/23, 9:00am. IN PERSON ONLY, MacArthur Memorial Visitor Center, 150 Bank Street, Norfolk, VA. Sponsors: MacArthur Memorial, Military Aviation Museum, and Hampton Roads Naval Museum. Speakers: Military historians Richard B. Frank, author of Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire, D.M. Giangreco, author of Truman and the Bomb: The Untold Story, and Timothy J. Orr, co-author of Never Call Me a Hero: A Legendary American Dive-Bomber Pilot Remembers of the Battle of Midway. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/finale-in-the-pacific-the-road-to-japans-surrender-tickets-1371578601519?aff=oddtdtcreator

80TH ANNIVERSARY END OF WAR SYMPOSIUM. 8/8-9. Sponsor: National WWII Museum-New Orleans. Speakers: Guenter Bischof; Michael Neiberg; John McManus; Craig Symonds; James Scott; John Curatola; Jonathan House; Richard Frank; Jim Zobel; Noriko Kawamura. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/events-programs/events/135816-80th-anniversary-end-war-symposium VIDEO

THE CONTESTED HISTORY OF WORLD WAR TWO: THE HOTTEST FLASHPOINTS TODAY. 8/1. Sponsor: Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. Speakers: M.G. Sheftall, Professor, Modern Japanese Cultural History and Communication, Faculty of Informatics, Shizuoka University; Alexis Dudden, Professor, Department of History, University of Connecticut and Visiting Professor of Japanese Studies, National University of Singapore; Koichi Nakano, Professor, Political Science, Sophia University.  https://www.fccj.or.jp/news-and-multimedia/press-conference-contested-history-world-war-two-hottest-flashpoints-today-mg VIDEO

Another way to commemorate Flag Day

 

June 14, 1943. “It Was Worth It, Abe.” … so that … “freedom … shall not perish from the earth …” A fighting Coast Guardsman, who gave his right arm in battle pays Memorial Day tribute at the Lincoln shrine in Washington, DC. He is Coast Guardsman Thomas Sortino (d.1977) of Chicago, who participated in the North African invasion. Photograph by U.S. Coast Guard.

Return to California of Pvt. Mitchell

Burial of Pvt. Mitchell in Hamilton, California

On Saturday May 3, 2025, Pvt. James Stanley Mitchell of Chico, California was finally home. Eighty-two years after he died of starvation and disease in Cabanatuan, a Japanese prison camp, he was buried alongside his parents.

A memorial service for Pvt. Mitchell was held in Hamilton City, California on May 3 at 10:00 a.m., followed by a full military graveside service at the Los Molinos Cemetery at 1 p.m. The Brusie Funeral Home in Chico, California handled the arrangements.

He was a soldier with Company B, 31st Infantry Regiment who fought in 1941 and 1942 to defend the Philippine Commonwealth against the invading Japanese. It is unclear if he was able to escape from Bataan to Corregidor Island with remnants of the 31st where he would have been surrendered on May 6, 1942. Or he may have remained on the Bataan Peninsula to be surrendered on April 9th where he may have been forced on the infamous Bataan Death March or was recovering from wounds and disease  in a field hospital.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency that officially identified his remains on Sept. 30, 2024 believes he was surrendered on Bataan and suffered the Bataan Death March. Mitchell had died Jan. 7, 1943, and was buried along with other deceased prisoners in the local Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 816. In 1947, the  American Graves Registration ServiceAGRS examined the remains in an attempt to identify them. One set of remains from Common Grave 816 was identified, while the remaining three were declared unidentifiable. The unidentified remains were buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM) as Unknowns. In 2018, as part of the Cabanatuan Project, DPAA exhumed the remains associated with Common Grave 816 and sent them to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

In 1946, the American Legion Auxiliary in Hamilton City, California was named for Pvt. Mitchell and his hometown friend and fellow member of the 31st, Pvt. Robert Clayton Zimmerman--"Zimmerman-Mitchell, Post 722." Pvt. Zimmerman also died as a POW of Japan in the Cabanatuan prison camp. He succumb to disease and starvation on June 19, 1942 (aged 25) just two months after surviving the Bataan Death March.

To honor and remember Pvts. Mitchell and Zimmeran you may want to do these three things:
1. Add a virtual memorial to Pvt. Mitchell's Find A Grave site: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56756838/james-%22stanley%22-mitchell
2. Add a virtual memorial to Pvt. Zimmerman's Find A Grave site: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43396958/robert-clayton-zimmerman

3. Send a thank you to Congressman Doug LaMalfa's (R-CA-1) Veterans staffer Mr. Sam Dorsey, c/o Office of Representative Doug LaMalfa, 408 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC  20515 for writing, as you can see below, the most accurate and sensitive memorial to a POW of Japan I have ever read in the Congressional Record. Mr. Dorsey has earned our thanks.

            

               HONORING PRIVATE JAMES ``STANLEY'' MITCHELL

                               ______
                                 
                           HON. DOUG LaMALFA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 30, 2025

  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a great American 
hero, Private James ``Stanley'' Mitchell, who volunteered to serve our 
great Nation in World War II and died 82 years ago in a Japanese POW 
camp in Luzon, Philippines. Private Mitchell's remains were located and 
identified and have been returned to his family, a testament of his 
courage and sacrifice.

  Private Mitchell was born in Joplin, Missouri on October 2, 1917. The 
family would move frequently during his early life, eventually settling 
down in Hamilton City, California.

  On March 4, 1941, Private Mitchell enlisted in the United States Army 
and was deployed as part of the 31st Infantry Regiment on assignment to 
Clark Field in Luzon, Philippines. Ten months after his initial 
deployment to the Philippines, Imperial Japanese Forces would bomb 
Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States and all her territories into 
World War II. Japanese forces begin a full-scale invasion of Luzon, 
Philippines on December 22, 1941. The 31st Infantry Regiment stood 
defiant and courageous against overwhelming Japanese forces until their 
surrender on April 9, 1942.

  Private Mitchell joined approximately 72,000 American and Filipino 
prisoners of war (POW) on a 65-mile march known as the Bataan Death 
March. These brave souls endured torture, starvation, disease and 
ultimately death at the hands of the Japanese forces. By the end of the 
march, only approximately 52,000 American and Filipino POWs remained 
live.

  Private Mitchell and many surviving POWs would be held at the 
Cabanatuan POW Camp. Conditions would not improve for these courageous 
men. On January 7, 1943, Private Mitchell succumbed to starvation and 
disease, dying at a weight of only 70 pounds. Private Mitchell was 
buried in one of the many mass graves at the camp.

  The Cabanatuan POW Camp would be liberated on January 30, 1945, with 
only 489 POWs remaining alive. Unfortunately, 2,656 brave American POWs 
had lost their lives at the camp.

  Private Mitchell was the first World War II casualty from Hamilton 
City. His status as a POW brought great sadness and pain to his family. 
The news of his death brought devastation to his parents and family. 
His remains were exhumed and identified in September of 2024. Private 
Mitchell's remains were brought home to the United States on May 3, 
2025, and he will be laid to rest between his parents at the Los 
Molinos Cemetery, in Northern California.

  Private Mitchell's story and sacrifice will not be forgotten. His 
legacy and impact to our community will continue to be felt. His return 
will bring closure to his family. God bless Private Mitchell and 
welcome home.
                         ____________________

Notes

Company B, 31st Infantry Regiment

https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-171/issue-72/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E369-2 

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/3967557/soldier-accounted-for-from-wwii-mitchell-j 

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000MvCQWEA3 

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/496447/remains-world-war-ii-soldier-buried-los-molinos-california

https://krcrtv.com/news/local/wwii-soldiers-remains-return-home-after-84-years 

https://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/hamilton-city-honors-fallen-wwii-heros-return-home-81-years-after-death/article_8489ee3d-628b-438e-91ad-300ee480ed1c.html 

BURIAL: Los Molinos Cemetery, Los Molinos, California

Rescuing U.S. Government Data

As noted in a previous post about the Society for Military History, the scholarly community has been alarmed by the removal of U.S. government websites and datasets. There is a wider effort now to rescue and archive as much information from government websites as possible for the wider academic community.

The Data Rescue Project serves as a clearinghouse for data rescue-related efforts and data access points for public U.S. federal data that are currently at risk. The project, a coalition of data organisations including IASSIST, RDAP and the Data Curation Network, among others, and individuals has focussed on collating, collecting, curating, and providing sustained public access and distribution of data. The Data Rescue Tracker, a collaborative tool to catalogue and coordinate across data rescue efforts. The tool can be used to see where data has been rescued, search for specific datasets, learn about ongoing data rescue initiatives, and submit downloaded data and where it has been archived for continuing findability and access.

Adm. Nimitz Disapproves

Letter to the Editor of the New York Times Re “Angelou’s ‘Caged Bird’ Is Out, but Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ Stays; 381 Books Are Banned From Naval Academy

Adm. Nimitz

” (front page, April 12):

My grandfather was Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz. The United States Naval Academy’s library was named in his honor in 1973. My family was proud to attend the dedication.

He would be appalled by the removal of books by authors like Maya Angelou from its shelves — as am I and are his great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. He was a humble, honorable, intelligent and supportive leader who was honored and loved by everyone he came into contact with.

We are all ashamed to hear that books such as “Mein Kampf” have been left on the shelves while others were removed.

Thank you to The New York Times for featuring this story!

Sarah Nimitz Smith
Boston

Society for Military History's Effort to Perserve History in Face the Trump Assault

On April 8, Dr. Wayne E. Lee, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, President, Society for Military History Writes

The constitutional mission of the Society for Military History is “to stimulate and advance the study of military history, especially that of the United States, and to diffuse knowledge thereof by publications, displays, and otherwise.”  In response to recent wholesale deletions or removals of historical publications, websites, lesson plans, and even the removal of books and archives, the Society’s Council has voted to act to preserve deleted materials and report on other administrative actions at state or federal levels that interfere with the mission of our Society. 

We believe that historical work requires the preservation of and access to records and publications. And there is no denying in this moment that books, articles, whole journal issues, lesson plans, exhibits, art installations, archives, and possibly more, are being removed from public access through a combination of automated screening for key words and through employees being diverted from their usual work into screening publications and materials.  It is true that after public outrage some few websites have been restored, but this has been thus far spotty at best.  

The involvement of historians within the government in the process of removal means that many members of our Society have specific knowledge of what materials are being or have been removed.  We encourage you to contribute to the archive.

The Society will archive materials and publications removed from federal and state entities since January 2025 that are materially relevant to the conduct of military history, including all arenas of research, publication, dissemination, and teaching.  Persons with access to deleted materials are encouraged to send unaltered copies (or at least links to currently active web archived copies such as the Wayback Machine, etc.) to SocMilHist@proton.me. The SMH will both publicly list those materials and make copies available. 

Alternatively, files may be directly (and anonymously) uploaded simply by dragging your file into the upload space and clicking the Upload button on this page. You may enter your name, your email, and something about the file you are uploading, but you do not have to. Finally, answer the simple math problem to prove you are a human!

Members with knowledge of other actions, to include archive deletions, exhibit alterations, publication removal, or the removal of books from libraries (with relevance to military history) are encouraged to report them (anonymously if need be) to SMH leadership using this linked form. 

The SMH will try to verify all submitted information, and will indicate as such on the list. If materials are restored to public view or access we ask the members to let us know via the same form, and we will update the list accordingly, although we will continue to list the item as having been deleted at least for the time being.

All submissions should be solely related to the practice of military history. Submitters are asked to provide sources for their information. We will NOT accept or archive any materials not already in the public domain. 

Among other things, it is important to note that in many cases, items removed are publications of our members. They are lines on C.V.s. Their disappearance threatens our members’ efforts at promotion, advancement, placement, or tenure.This archive will help fill that gap. I believe it is also worth pointing out that two separate votes were held on this motion, one for the draft text, made by the previous board, and one for the post-conference slightly revised text.  

Asia Policy Point supports the Society's efforts to preserve copies of things now missing and their continued effort to follow and record any destruction of the historical record. We encourage our followers to submit to the Society military history records that have found to have been deleted or altered by the Trump Administration.