USS HOUSTON CA 30

“The galloping Ghost of the Java Coast”

VALDON STEPHEN ROBERTS

Valdon (Val/Robbie/Cream) Roberts, the youngest child of seven, was born October 2, 1920 in Smiley, Texas. He left the family ranch to enter Naval Training November 12, 1940 in Great Lakes.

He served on the USS Augusta for a short time then transferred to the USS Houston January 9, 1942 as a Fireman 2^nd Class. He told of spending hours below deck loading ammunition those last two weeks before the Houston was sunk on March 1, 1942. He vividly recalled standing ankle deep in their own sweat before hearing the abandon ship order.

After the Houston sank, he swam for several hours until a Jap ship slowly came by. He missed the first rope ladders but managed to grab the last one. Exhausted, he wove himself in the ropes and slept. The Japanese finally brought him aboard where he began his visit “as a guest of the Japanese Government”. The first day of captivity, he was beaten unconscious with a rifle butt because he failed to bow to his captors. At one point, he was left in a tin box for five days without food and water. His buddies fed, washed and massaged his stiff body for 3 days after he was removed from the box as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

Valdon survived 3 ½ years as in the POW camps. Upon his return home, the community honored him with a dinner dance and presented him with a gold watch engraved with the dates of his time as a POW. He asked Evelyn Yates to dance the first dance & shortly after they eloped on March 9, 1945. They had one daughter.

In a matter of months after his return, he became a Chief. He remained in the Navy until he retired in 1961. He also retired from the Civil Service.  He was involved with the Moose Lodge, VFW and Masons.

Valdon was married 27 years when his wife died.  He remarried two years later to a woman named Jo.  They were married 12 years when he died in his sleep May 21, 1989.

Fifty five years later, July 3, 1997, Valdon was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.