Obituaries

Continued from Page 44 needed island bases necessary to set the stage for the anticipated invasion of Japan years later. They also wanted to prevent a possible Japanese landing in Australia.

The Dutch had been trading with the islands of Java and Sumatra for over three centuries. Some 45 million people lived on the island of Java alone, including a half- million native Dutchmen. The British wanted to protect Singapore at the tip of the Malay Peninsula and also to block Japanese entry into the Indian Ocean.

Singapore nevertheless fell on Feb. 15, and the Japanese were thus able to divert forces eastward to the Java Sea. They occupied Sumatra, the island adjoining Java to the north and westward, and began bombing Soerabaja (Surabaya), the main port of Java on its north coast. They also landed on the island of Bali.

At the far eastern end of the island chain linking Sumatra, Java, Bali, Soemba, and Flores is Timor, which lies directly off the northwest coast of Australia. It was therefore critical to ABDA communications.

A troop convoy out of Darwin led by the American light cruiser Houston sought to fortify it, but on Feb. 16 Japanese fighters and bombers attacked them and made it impossible. The convoy returned to Darwin, and the Japanese took control of Timor.

Three days later, they bombed Darwin itself. By that time, the Houston had steamed safely back to Java (the Japanese Navy wanted an invasion of Australia, but the Army concluded that it did not have a sufficient number of divisions to make it feasible).

ABDA never became a truly unified command. Coordinated joint actions using ground, sea, and air forces rarely occurred. Their commanders were not in the habit of clearing their plans through a high command before acting. Adm. Hart was the nominal leader of ABDA, but the Netherlands wanted a Dutchman at the top. When President Roosevelt, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Ernest King decided that Java could not be held, they decided to let the Dutch lead ABDA. Adm. Hart was recalled, and he returned to the U.S. via India. Now commanding ABDA was Dutch Vice Adm. Emil Helfrich.

On Feb. 27, Dutch Rear Adm. Karel Doorman, aboard light cruiser DeRuyter, left port at Soerabaja, on Java, and led the British heavy cruiser Exeter, the Houston, the Australian light cruiser Perth, and the Dutch light cruiser Java out to face the Japanese, followed by a handful of destroyers. They were low on fuel and had no air cover.

Allied submarines could not participate because of shallow water. No plan of battle had been established. Due to the different languages, communications were a problem. No common flag signals or signal books were available. The Battle of Java Sea lasted seven long hours, in large part due to intricate ship maneuvers.

Until that time, naval strategists had assumed that any fight between ships would be over in a matter of minutes, not hours. The lack of air power, poor communications, and minimal joint training doomed the ABDA force. Adm. Doorman went down with his ship. Most ABDA ships did not survive to make a detailed report of this particular battle. The Japanese lost no ships.

No description of the Java Sea Campaign is complete without recounting the ultimate fate of the Houston and her crew. On Feb. 28, ABDA command realized that the battle was lost, so they decided to send some ships to Australia and others into the Indian Ocean to escape further losses.

Accompanied by the Perth, the Houston attempted a run through Sunda Strait off the north coast of Java. Both ships encountered an overwhelming onslaught of Japanese firepower, and both were sunk. The captain of the Houston was killed. Of the more than 1,000 crew members aboard the Houston, only 368 survived, and they were sent to a Japanese prison camp to face three years of starvation and brutality.

The gallantry of all of them, dead or alive, galvanized public opinion in the U.S. In her namesake Texas city, more than a thousand young men volunteered to replace her lost crew. They were sworn into the U.S. Navy on Memorial Day in an outdoor ceremony where the mayor of Houston read a special message from President Roosevelt commemorating the Houston and its crew.

Next week: The Fall of Rangoon

Mary Ellen Stine, age 82, died on Feb. 19, 2022, at Stansell House in Ocean Pines.

Born in Towson, Maryland, she was the daughter of the late Harry Jones and Delores (Milholland) Jones. She is survived by her husband, Joseph E. Stine, of Ocean Pines, Maryland; and son, Craig Stine, and his wife, Tracy, of Downington, Pennsylvania.

She was preceded in death by her children, Mark Stine and Stacy Mack.

There are six grandchildren, Joshua Stine, Nicholas TenEyck, Cara Fowler, Casey Stine, Ryan TenEyck, and Hollis Stine.

She leaves her sister, Kay Burch, and her husband, Rick, and their children, Mary Beth Burch and Billy Burch, all of Denver, Colorado.

Mrs. Stine received her associate’s degree from Stevenson University in Towson and worked as a staff member for the Professional Golf Association (PGA).

She was an active member of St. John Neumann Catholic Church and the Ocean Pines Women’s Golf Club. In her spare time, she enjoyed playing Mahjong, gardening, golfing, crossword puzzles and reading. She also loved traveling, with some of her favorite places to visit being the Caribbean Islands, Marco Island, Florida, and Ireland. But best of all, she loved spending time with her husband, children and grandchildren.

A mass of Christian Burial will be announced in the near future. Interment will be in Dulaney Valley Cemetery in Baltimore and will be private for the family.

Donations in her memory may be made to St. John Neumann Catholic Church, located at 11211 Beauchamp Rd, Berlin, Maryland 21811; or Dementia Society of America (www.dementiasociety.org). Letters of condolence may be sent to the family via: www.burbagefuneralhome.com. Arrangements are in the care of The Burbage Funeral Home in Berlin.