Love knows no depth

A Milton man and his sister will travel to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, Java, later this month to dive to the wreckage of the U.S.S. Houston, a WWII naval cruiser sunk during the Sundra Strait Battle on March 1, 1942. The ship faced a fierce battle against a major Imperial Japanese Navy task force that bombed Pearl Harbor.

The trip will be bittersweet for both because their dad, John W. Ranger, was a survivor of the battle. John was captured and imprisoned in Japanese prisoner of war camps for the remainder of the war.

Milton High School graduates, Jerry Ranger and sister Jolene Ranger-Stewart will begin diving on the 66th anniversary of the sinking of their dad’s ship on March 1 to document the wreckage and the vessel with special sonar equipment donated by various companies. They will be there for nine days.

“Since my dad’s death in 1999, I’ve learned about what he would never talk about,” Jerry said. “He spent three-and-a-half years in 13 different POW camps. He also received a silver star for his bravery on the Houston.”

Although this will be his sister’s first dive to the wreckage, this marks Jerry’s third visit. This time, however, he has been granted permission by the U.S. Navy to penetrate the vessel and will be able to send inside equipment to survey the deteriorating ship. No divers are allowed in the ship. This will be the first time anyone has been allowed to send in a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to photograph the interior.

Jerry, a detention lieutenant with the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office, is the only child of a survivor to dive to the wreckage. When his sister Jolene dives, she will be the second. Both of John’s children will be the only ones to do so.

“The first time for me was very emotional,” Jerry said. “The second time was to document and take pictures so the families will know about this. This time I’ll be able survey the inside before the sea takes it away. It’s been down for 66 years, and it’s deteriorating fast.”

Jerry will be traveling this week to Houston, Texas, to the U.S.S. Houston Survivors Reunion to speak about his trip. Remaining survivors will be in attendance. The reunion is organized by the U.S.S. Houston Survivors Next Generation, a group formed by families of survivors and those who died in the battle.

“It’s a story that needs to be told,” he said. “More men were killed during this battle than at Pearl Harbor.”

According to Jerry, 71 survivors later died in POW camps, and only 28 survivors are still living.

The survivors of the battle became slave labor to the Japanese on The Railway of Death and The Bridge on The River Kwai. More than 16,000 prisoners died during the construction of the railway — about 38 prisoners for every kilometer of railway built, according to a survivor’s account on the Internet.

Blue View Technologies and Marine Sonar Technology will be sending their new sonar equipment free of charge to help document the wreckage. VideoRay’s ROV will photograph the passageway and interior rooms as they are today. The dive team will be over the U.S.S. Houston from March 1 to 10.

“It’s a war gravesite and we will respect it as a gravesite,” Jerry said. “We want to keep the history of the Houston alive for the next generation.”