; 

MOWW SCRIPTURE AND COMMENTARY (By Chaplain Ernie Dean) April 2013: Trust Trust in the Lord and do good; so you will live in the land and enjoy security. Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will help you. He will make your vindication shine like the light, and the justice of your cause like the noonday. (Psalm37:3-6) We rejoice when we have a person in our life who is completely trustworthy. There is strength and confidence available to us that is born in that trust. Very little, if anything, buoys us like the knowledge that there is someone on whom we can place our utmost hopes. Who is that someone for you and for me? Possibly, we feel there is no one we can name right off hand. On the other hand, sometimes we fail to recognize a ready friend and believe falsely we are alone in our need. I cannot vouch for human relationships, but I am assured that all of us can place our trust in God. "Give yourself to the Lord; trust in him, and he will help you (v.5). God is our answer. God is the one who leads us to do that which is good, to seek happiness, to achieve satisfied hearts. We are talking here of surrendering ourselves to the will of God. God is paramount, steadfast, righteous. To work with God in a holy relationship of trust, to bask in God's righteousness, is to see our own righteousness "shine like the noonday sun." (v.6) We have the potential to be at one with God. This potential carries with it the opportunity to choose God to trust or to miss this phenomenal blessing. Do we know the quality we want for our lives? Are we ready to make the right choice? Can we state the name of the one whom we trust?

As many as 1 million Americans serve as caregivers for wounded troops and veterans with few existing resources and no national strategy to help them, according to a new study by RAND to be released 7 MAR. The report found that spouses, parents and siblings of wounded troops face increased stress, greater risk of heart disease, compromised immune functions and a host of other health threats because of the physical and emotional demands of caring for their infirm loved ones The ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee said he may move to freeze bonuses for Department of Veterans Affairs leaders because of delays in implementing a law that would provide health care to families of Marines exposed to water pollution at Camp Lejeune. The threat by Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina comes after the VA recently told his office that implementation of the Janey Ensminger Act may not occur until March 2014 at the earliest and perhaps as late as early 2015.  One federal department stands conspicuously protected from the automatic budget cuts falling across the government: the Department of Veterans Affairs with its 300,000 employees and $140 billion budget, a mammoth agency second in size only to the Defense Department. The exemption, carved out in the legislation establishing the cuts, reflected rare bipartisan agreement in Washington that the VA should be spared the threatened budget turmoil  How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it. Reality is only an illusion that occurs due to a lack of alcohol. "I think Congressmen should wear uniforms, you know, like NASCAR drivers, so we could identify their corporate sponsors."

 

AUSTIN MILITARY ORDER OF THE WORLD WARS MEETING SCHEDULE SEPTEMBER 2012 - MAY 2013 (Schedule is subject to change) 11 Apr. - Informal - dinner - 6:30 p.m. Abuelo's Mexican Restaurant located in Barton Creek Mall 9 May --- Formal/regular evening meeting at 6:30 (install new officers)              Crowne Plaza Hotel6121 North IH-35512-323-5466

 

Chapter Officers Commander Col Leon Holland 335-1224 Vice Commander Treasurer Col Andrew McVeigh 261-6272 Adjutant Mrs. Patricia Egan 750-1399 Chaplin LtCol Ernest S. Dean 477-5390 Youth Leadership Conference LtCol Thomas W. Anderson 445-4480 ROTC Awards Col Leon Holland 335-1224 Newsletter & Web Site LtCol J. Robert Howard 848-0285

Schedule: 1830-1900 - Social  1900-1905 - Invocation  1905-1945 - Dinner 2000-2045 - Program 2045-2100 - Adjourn.

The Battle of the Java Sea  (Wikipedia.org)    The Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies progressed at a rapid pace as they advanced from their Palau Islands colony and captured bases in Sarawak and the southern Philippines. They seized bases in eastern Borneo and in northern Celebes while troop convoys, screened by destroyers and cruisers with air support provided by swarms of fighters operating from captured bases, steamed southward through the Makassar Strait and into the Molucca Sea. To oppose these invading forces was a small force, consisting of Dutch, American, British & Australian warships—many of them of World War I vintage—initially under the command of Admiral Thomas C. Hart.    On 23 January 1942, a force of four American destroyers attacked a Japanese invasion convoy in Makassar Strait as it approached Balikpapan in Borneo. On 13 February, the Allies fought unsuccessfully—in the Battle of Palembang—to prevent the Japanese from capturing the major oil port in eastern Sumatra. On the night of 19/20 February, an Allied force attacked the Eastern Invasion Force off Bali in the Battle of Badung Strait. Also on the 19th, the Japanese made two air raids on Darwin, one from carrier based planes and the other by land based planes. They attacked and wrecked the port at Darwin in northern Australia which rendered it useless as a supply and naval base to support operations in the East Indies.    Shortly before the battle commenced, the odds were not good for the Allied forces. They were disunited (ships came from four separate navies) and demoralized by constant air attacks, and a general sentiment that the Japanese were unbeatable. In addition, the coordination between Allied navies and air forces was poor. Battle A formation of Japanese twin engined land based bombers taking anti-aircraft fire whilst attacking ships in the Java Sea; seen from the Australian cruiser HMAS Hobart. HNLMS De Ruyter at anchor, c. February 1942, shortly before the battle. Japanese cruiser Haguro sank HNLMS De Ruyter, killing Admiral Karel Doorman.

 

The Japanese amphibious forces gathered to strike at Java, and on 27 February 1942, the main American-British-Dutch-Australian Command naval force, under Doorman, sailed northeast from Surabaya to intercept a convoy of the Eastern Invasion Force approaching from the Makassar Strait. The ABDA force consisted of two heavy cruisers (HMS Exeter and USS Houston), three light cruisers (HNLMS De Ruyter (Doorman's flagship), HNLMS Java, HMAS Perth), and nine destroyers (HMS Electra, HMS Encounter, HMS Jupiter, HNLMS Kortenaer, HNLMS Witte de With, USS Alden, USS John D. Edwards, USS John D. Ford, and USS Paul Jones).    The Japanese task force protecting the convoy, commanded by Rear-Admiral Takeo Takagi, consisted of two heavy (Nachi and Haguro) and two light cruisers (Naka and Jintsu) and 14 destroyers (Yudachi, Samidare, Murasame, Harusame, Minegumo, Asagumo, Yukikaze, Tokitsukaze, Amatsukaze, Hatsukaze, Yamakaze, Kawakaze, Sazanami, and Ushio) including the 4th Destroyer Squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura. The Japanese heavy cruisers were much more powerful, armed with ten 8 in (200 mm) guns each and superb torpedoes. By comparison, Exeter was armed only with six 8 in (200 mm) guns. While Houston carried nine 8 in (200 mm) guns, only six remained operable after her aft turret had been knocked out in an earlier air attack.    The ABDA force engaged the Japanese in the Java Sea, and the battle raged intermittently from mid-afternoon to midnight as the Allies tried to reach and attack the troop transports of the Java invasion fleet, but they were repulsed by superior firepower. The Allies had local air superiority during the daylight hours, because Japanese air power could not reach the fleet in the bad weather. The weather also hindered communications, making cooperation between the many Allied parties involved—in reconnaissance, air cover and fleet headquarters—even worse than it already was. The Japanese also jammed the radio frequencies.     The battle consisted of a series of attempts over a seven-hour period by Doorman's Combined Striking Force to reach and attack the invasion convoy; each was rebuffed by the escort force with heavy losses being inflicted on the Allies. HMS Exeter under air attack on 15 February 1942.    The fleets sighted each other at about 16:00 on 27 February and closed to firing range, opening fire at 16:16. Both sides exhibited poor gunnery and torpedo skills during this phase of the battle. The only notable example of gunnery was Exeter being critically damaged by a hit in the boiler room from an 8 in (200 mm) shell. The ship then limped away to Surabaya, escorted by Witte de With. The Japanese launched two huge torpedo salvoes, 92 in all, but scored only one hit, on Kortenaer. She was struck by a Long Lance, broke in two and sank rapidly after the hit. Electra—covering Exeter—engaged in a duel with Jintsu and Asagumo, scoring several hits but suffering severe damage to her superstructure. After a serious fire started on Electra and her remaining turret ran out of ammunition, abandon ship was ordered. On the Japanese side, only Asagumo was forced to retire because of damage.    The Allied fleet broke off and turned away around 18:00, covered by a smoke screen laid by the four destroyers of U.S Destroyer Division 58 (DesDiv 58). They also launched a torpedo attack but at too long a range to be effective. Doorman's force turned south toward the Java coast, then west and north as night fell in an attempt to evade the Japanese escort group and fall on the convoy. It was at this point the ships of DesDiv 58—their torpedoes expended—left on their own initiative to return to Surabaya.    Shortly after, at 21:25, Jupiter ran onto a mine and was sunk, while about 20 minutes later, the fleet passed where Kortenaer had sunk earlier, and Encounter was detached to pick up survivors. Doorman's command, now reduced to four cruisers, again encountered the Japanese escort group at 23:00; both columns exchanged fire in the darkness at long range, until De Ruyter and Java were sunk, by one devastating torpedo salvo. Doorman and most of his crew went down with De Ruyter; only 111 were saved from both ships. Only the cruisers Perth and Houston remained; low on fuel and ammunition, and following Doorman's last instructions, the two ships retired, arriving at Tanjung Priok on 28 February.  These two ships were sunk the next day.      Although the Allied fleet did not reach the invasion fleet, the battle did give the defenders of Java a one-day respite.