A guide to the Cruiser Houston Collection, an archival collection of materials related to the USS Houston (CA-30) and her crew, is now available online at TARO. The heavy cruiser, first launched in 1929, was named for the city and port of Houston. On March 1, 1942, the Houston was sunk by the Japanese in Sunda Strait following a fierce battle, and her surviving crew members were made prisoners of war. Most of them worked as slave labor on the Burma-Thai Railway, immortalized in the film Bridge on the River Kwai. Following the war, the survivors formed the USS Houston Survivors Association, as well as a companion organization for younger family members called The Next Generation.
The Cruiser Houston Collection contains over seventy boxes of photographs, correspondence, diaries, copies of the ship’s newsletter the Blue Bonnet, POW records, memorabilia, and much more. Some recent donations are not yet lised in the finding aid, but are also available for use. For assistance with the collection, please contact curator Julie Grob by e-mail at jgrob@uh.edu, or by phone at 713-743-9744. For information about the USS Houston Survivors Assocation and the Next Generation, please contact the organization directly by e-mail at ca30ng@aol.com or by phone at 512-989-0000.
The USS Houston Survivors Association and the Next Generation welcome applicants from the University of Houston student body for their Scholarship Program. The scholarship is open to any university undergraduate with a keen interest in the story of the USS Houston (CA-30). The scholarship amount typically ranges from $1000.00 to $1500.00.
The USS Houston (CA-30), a heavy cruiser named for the city of Houston, was both the favorite ship of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet during World War II. Following the Houston’s sinking by the Japanese in 1942, her surviving crew members became prisoners-of-war. For more details, see the USS Houston (CA-30) Exhibit on the second floor of the library, the online Cruiser Houston exhibit, or the archival Cruiser Houston Collection available for use in Special Collections at M.D. Anderson Library.
Those eligible to apply include students entering the final year of high school with anticipation of going to college, as well as all college and university undergraduates up through the final year of study. Previous applicants and winners may reapply. Applicants are required to present grades and evidence of other personal attributes, and to write an essay about the crew of the USS Houston.
Applications are accepted beginning June 1 with the deadline for submission extending to November 1. Applications and specific information about applying may be obtained any time by mailing a request to:
John Keith Schwarz
2500 Clarendon Blvd Apt 121
Arlington, VA 22201
Otto C. Schwarz, founder of the USS Houston Survivors Association, died on August 3, 2006. A Seaman First Class on the heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30), Otto participated in the Battle of the Java Sea and the Battle of Sunda Strait during World War II. Along with his fellow surviving crew members, he was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese following the sinking of the ship in the Battle of Sunda Strait in March 1942. As a POW, Otto worked as slave labor on the Burma-Thai Railroad, where many Allied POWS died due to the brutal conditions.
Following the war, Otto founded the USS Houston Survivors Association as a way to maintain the bonds between his fellow shipmates. He published the Blue Bonnet newsletter for decades before declining health forced him to pass along the editorship to Val Roberts-Poss and Lin Drees. He encouraged his fellow survivors to preserve their own history, gradually building a significant collection of documents, photographs, and artifacts which the organization donated to the University of Houston Libraries in 1981. (This collection continues to grow). The story of the USS Houston (CA-30) and her crew has been preserved through the USS Houston Monument in downtown Houston, the permanent USS Houston exhibit here at the UH Libraries, and a number of books, oral histories, and documentary films.
Those of us who knew Otto will remember his incredible passion for the ship, his knowledge of almost every aspect of the ship’s history, and his drive to commemorate the lives of his fellow crew members who perished during the battle or in the POW camps. He was a man of great personal warmth, deep patriotism, and immense modesty.
Otto is survived by his wife Trudy, and his sons John and Edward.
What do all of the above have in common? They’re all represented in Special Collections holdings, and each have new finding aids up on TARO.
Association for Women In Science Records, 1976-2002
M.L. Calk Civil War Letters, 1861-1863
Carolyn Farb Papers, 1955-2002
Galveston 1915 Hurricane Photographs