Oral History Interview with John Stutterheim, February 28, 2006 Page: 17

                                
says they put a bronze plaque in honor of the 900 Dutch people who perished in that
battle in the city of Surabaya; February 27 and 28, it was during the night when this
battle took place. It was a disaster to us. We had looked up my dad in Surabaya and my
mom said, "This is becoming too dangerous." They bombed Surabaya every day at
special times, late in the morning around 11:00. The main targets were the railroads and
the harbor. We assumed they came from what I mentioned before Kendari on Celebes,
counting the hours that it took to fly that distance. We departed for Malang just before the
surrender. We were waiting for a train which was a real problem. All of a sudden while
we were standing out there on the platform; I was 14 years old and I looked and there
came a steam engine pulling freight cars. All the freight cars were painted white with red
crosses on the sides and on the roof. This train was loaded with all the survivors and
wounded from the Battle of the Java Sea. They were heading for Tjilatjap, which I
mentioned before. Apparently some of them did escape. At that time there were survivors
of the American Air Force that was stationed at Singosari. There was an airport. We had
B-17's stationed there. All the planes were lost and there were survivors. They came to
Surabaya and onto that platform and they boarded that train. I will never forget the sight
of it; it was horrible. Later on when I was practicing medicine in Tacoma I met various
people and they became patients of mine. One used to be a Navigator of a B-17 who had

been in Singosari and he escaped from there. He made it to Australia. The other one was
the Captain on a Dutch ship that was in Tjilatjap taking on evacuees. They escaped by
hugging the coastline so they would not stand out and they made it. But many, many
ships were sunk by the Japanese submarines. If you are that young and you look at all of
this; it leaves a deep impression. We made it to Malang and the next day I went outside.

17