Oral History Interview with Otto Schwarz, August 7, 1979

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Otto Schwarz. Schwarz joined the Navy in 1940 after spending some time in the Civilian Conservation Corps. After training at San Diego, he went to Pearl Harbor and was assigned to the USS Lark (AM-21). Once in the Philippines, he was transferred to the USS Houston (CA-30) in June 1941. He remained aboard the Houston until she was sunk in March, 1942 off the Java coast. His battle station was in the powder magazine in the first turret. Schwarz remembers leaving his battle station and abandoning the ship. Toward dawn, Schwarz was picked up by a barge and taken ashore where he gathered with other survivors. They stayed in a civilian jail on Java for five or six weeks before going to Bicycle Camp in Batavia (Jakarta today). In October, Schwarz left Java aboard the Dai Nichi Maru bound for the POW camp Changi, Singapore. From there, he shipped to Burma and went to work on the railway to Thailand starting at the 14 Kilo Camp. During the construction, he suffered from tropical ulcers, malaria, beriberi, dysentery and dengue fever. When the railroad was completed, Schwarz went to a POW camp in Thailand. After moving from Thailand, Schwarz and several others were transported through Phnom Penh then downriver to Saigon in early 1944. In Saigon, the POWs did several odd jobs around town for the Japanese to keep busy. Schwarz describes how the POWs stole items to survive. Once the war was over, he and another left the POW camp and met some French people. When the Viet Minh began their revolution, they captured Schwarz, mistaking him as a Frenchman. He was released and returned to his POW camp to await liberation by the Allies. From Saigon, he went to Calcutta, then flew to Washington and took a train home on leave to New Jersey