It is with deep regret I inform you of the passing of Robert L. “Bob” Hanley on 12 September 2024 at age 102. Enlisting in the Navy before the war in January 1941, Hanley was a seaman second class aboard heavy cruiser USS
Houston (CA-30), lost along with light cruiser HMAS
Perth in a valiant battle against overwhelming odds in Sunda Strait, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), on the night of 29 February–1 March 1942. Hanley was one of only 368 crewmen (out of 1,060) who survived the sinking, all of whom were subsequently captured by the Japanese on Java. He survived passage on a “hell ship” to Singapore, thence to Burma, and then later overland to Kanchanaburi prison camp in Thailand, working as a prisoner medical orderly with prisoners of war (POWs) engaged in forced labor on the Burma–Thailand Railway (fictionalized in the movie
Bridge on the River Kwai—the brutality depicted in the movie is quite accurate, however). He survived bouts of dysentery, malaria, and pellagra, as well as harsh Japanese treatment: beatings, torture, and malnourishment. He was one of only 291
Houston survivors still alive when the war ended and the POW camps were liberated in August 1945 (American POWs suffered a 37 percent mortality rate in Japanese captivity). After his six-year enlistment in the Navy was up in 1947, he enlisted in the U.S. Army for another 15 years. He then worked for 3M, taking a medical retirement in 1978. He is survived by five children and “numerous” grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Following the Japanese sinking of the British battleship HMS
Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS
Repulse in December 1941,
Houston was the largest and most capable Allied combatant of the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) force attempting to defend the Dutch East Indies against the enemy onslaught. As the Japanese quickly gained air supremacy,
Houston was subjected to numerous air attacks, badly damaged in one, and in one case successfully defended an Allied troop convoy with anti-aircraft fire alone, before ultimately engaging in and surviving the disastrous Battle of the Java Sea. For his ship's heroics in these actions,
Houston’s commanding officer, Captain Albert Rooks, was later awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor. While executing their orders to withdraw from the Java Sea and regroup south of Java, HMAS
Perth and
Houston encountered the main Japanese invasion force for Java. Despite both ships had suffered damage and were low on fuel and ammunition, they turned to attack. In the vicious close-quarters night melee that followed, the Japanese escorts fired 89 torpedoes at the Allied ships (sinking five of their own troop transports in the process). Both ships fought to the last of their ammunition even as they were sinking, and both commanding officers were killed in action aboard their ships. This, however, was only the beginning of the nightmare for the survivors, who endured years of brutal treatment and forced labor in Burma and Thailand. Hanley not only survived, but as a medical orderly he assisted in saving many lives. Anyone who went through this is indeed a hero, as he and his shipmates bought time with their sacrifices to enable ultimate Allied victory in the war.
Rest in Peace, Mr. Hanley.