Oral History Interview with Otto Schwarz, February 28, 2002

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Otto Schwarz. Schwarz was born in Newark, New Jersey, on 6 September 1923, and enlisted in the Navy in October 1940. After basic training in San Diego, he was assigned to the USS Lark (AM-21), a magnetic mine sweeper. The ship sailed to the Philippines where it performed duties as a pilot rescue vessel. Schwarz was soon transferred to the USS Houston (CA-30), the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. He recounts that the Houston left the Philippines prior to the Japanese attack and sailed to Surabaya, Indonesia where she operated between there and Darwin, Australia. Schwarz recalls participating in the Battle of Makassar Strait on 4 February 1942, during which a Japanese bomb destroyed the after turret killing 48 men. Schwarz also participated in the battles of the Java Sea and Sunda Strait, where HMAS Perth and the Houston were both sunk. He was in the water for thirteen hours, until he was picked up by a Japanese landing barge. He then hauled supplies for Japanese troops in Java between March and early October, 1942. Then he was transported to Burma to work on the Burma-Siam Railway. He describes the next fifteen months participating in building the railway until he was transported to Saigon to await shipment to Japan to work in the factories, steel mills and mines. American submarines had the port blockaded preventing any ships from leaving. Schwarz was liberated in Saigon on 6 September 1945, and returned to the United States. He was given a medical discharge in 1947