News-Info-Alerts

Re: A Java Ex-POW

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: May 27, 2002

"Veteran tells of POW camp

By Jenny Klein
Globe-News Staff Writer
Uell Carter, 79, considers himself lucky. Carter, a veteran of World War II, spent more than three years as a prisoner of war in Java, an island in Indonesia, and is alive to tell about it.

At 17, Carter, born and raised in Amarillo, joined the Armed Forces. Two years later, Carter and the other members of the 131st Field Artillery, 2nd Battalion were stationed at Pearl Harbor. They had been assigned a Code 9, which was a secret mission, Carter said. The battalion was headed for the Philippines.

"We shipped out of Pearl Harbor the first of December," Carter said. "After about six or seven days at sea, the Japanese bombed the Harbor. We did not make it to the Philippines."

Carter's battalion landed on the coast of Australia in 1941, where they joined with forces from other nations. Carter, an artillery man, was sent to Java, where he worked as ground force for the Air Force. His duties included loading bombs on the planes attacking the Philippines.

Under the command of a Dutch general, the members of the force at Java were taken prisoners by the Japanese in March 1942, Carter said. The general capitulated to the Japanese forces, which meant the troops had no rights.

"When an army surrenders, the prisoners are given certain rights," Carter said. "We had no rights. As Americans, we were very unhappy to be put in that situation. But the Japanese required capitulation. It probably wouldn't have made any difference."

The prisoners, once a united force, became scattered, he said. A few, including Carter, never left the island of Java in 3 years. Carter spent the course of that time in 21 different camps on the island.

Those years as a POW were difficult to endure, Carter said. He was beaten, starved and overworked, but Carter survived by keeping hopeful.

"Americans know if you stay together as a group, you can keep focused. We were focused on getting out of camp," he said. "Our intense dislike of the Japanese was driving us."

Carter returned home Dec. 30, 1945.

Carter will honor his fallen comrades on Memorial Day.

Pete Garcia, team leader of the Amarillo division of the Department of Veterans Affairs-Readjustment Counseling service, also known as the Vet Center, said Memorial Day began as a day to honor those killed in combat after the Civil War in 1868.

"It is a time to honor those individuals who answered above and beyond the call of duty and have given the ultimate sacrifice for this country," Garcia said. "It's ironic that this Memorial Day we are not only remembering combat victims, but we are also recognizing those killed 9-11 and the men and women serving in Afghanistan."

Freedom comes at a price as those who survived wars and those who felt the loss of loved ones know, Garcia said. Veterans who returned home still suffer the impact of war, and the families of war victims still mourn their losses.

Bette Coder lost a loved one in combat. Her son Russell Dan Woollard was 20 when he was killed in Vietnam in 1969.

"He was in Vietnam 31 days before he was killed," she said.

Coder will take a wreath to memorialize him at his burial place in Poppy Field, where she visits often.

Coder, a member of a national organization chartered by Congress called Gold Star Mothers, said Memorial Day is a time for people to remember their freedom and those who fought for it.

"People need to remember what freedom costs. It comes high, believe me," she said.

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