Douglas Egelston

Douglas Egelston was born in Atwood, Kansas on January 10, 1920.

Mr. Egelston was aboard the USS Houston on February 4, 1942 during the Battle of Makassar Strait.  His brother, Dallas, was aboard the USS Marblehead.  He was aboard the USS Houston during the Battle of Java Sea.  He was captured and spent the rest of the war in a Japanese POW camp.

Mr. Egelston later told his family that the conditions were terrible in the POW camps and that many men died there.  He personally had to physically recover from ill health from being a POW all of those years.  A story he did share with his family was that one day he and a few other prisoners captured a pig.  They managed to cook  and eat it.  He said it was the best meal he had as a POW.

After Mr. Egelston was liberated at the end of the war, he continued in the Navy and was promoted to Petty Officer First Class.  He later was promoted to the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer, the highest enlisted rank.  Following his discharge from the Navy, he attended college and later became an executive with the Merchand Company in California.

Mr. Egelston died in Sacramento, California on March 15, 1983.