The U.S.S. Houston Foundation of the Texas Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States dedicated this monument to the U.S.S. Houston and her crew in 1995. The monument is located in Sam Houston Park in downtown Houston. Gift of Captain Carter Conlin.

Members of the U.S.S. Houston Survivors Association view a model of the Cruiser Houston on display in the George R. Brown room at a reunion in 1985. Gift of Otto Schwarz.

Young friend Sean Ellerbee embraces Houston survivor Leonard "Dutch" Kooper at the 1999 U.S.S. Houston Survivors Association Reunion. Gift of Phillip Wayne Ellerbee.

William A. Bernrieder (left) and Albert Rooks stand beside a bell from the U.S.S. Houston that was removed from the ship before the war due to a crack. Bernreider was a member of the original Cruiser Houston Committee, and Albert Rooks was the son of Captain Rooks. Photograph by Captain Carter Conlin. Gift of Otto Schwarz.

According to founder Otto Schwarz,

Schwarz began writing and circulating a quarterly newsletter for the network of survivors, named the Blue Bonnet after the original ship's newsletter. The survivors also continued to keep in touch by attending annual reunions every August with their friends from the Lost Battalion.

As the Blue Bonnet's circulation grew, mail began arriving in Schwarz's mailbox from the families of those who had died on the Houston or in the prison camps, seeking information about what had happened to their loved ones. Often Schwarz was able to connect these "next of kin" families with survivors who had known their brother or son and could provide the kind of personal information they wanted. "Witnessing the joy of these families was indescribable," Schwarz recalls, "and drove me to devote my life to the memory of the U.S.S. Houston, her crew, and their families."

The U.S.S. Houston Survivors Association has done much over the past five decades to preserve the memory of the ship and honor the lives of her crew. The members collected historically valuable documents and memorabilia about the U.S.S. Houston, which they donated to the University of Houston Libraries. In 1981, thanks to the generosity of George R. Brown, the Cruiser Houston Memorial Room was dedicated in the M.D. Anderson Library. Seventeen survivors, Harold Rooks (the son of Captain Rooks), and William A. Bernrieder of the Cruiser Houston Committee were in attendance. The room contains a permanent exhibit of documents and memorabilia about the ship and her crew.

Also in 1981, a group of survivors made a trip back to Asia and Australia, to revisit the scenes of their harrowing wartime experiences, and lay memorial wreaths in the Sunda Strait. A group of 45 survivors and family members visited the Bridge on the River Kwai in Thailand and the Changi Prison in Singapore. In Jakarta, Indonesia (formerly Batavia), the group stayed at a luxury hotel built on the exact site of Bicycle Camp. In Indonesia they also toured the Serang Jail and Serang Theater (which was still operating as a movie theater). As the climax of their journey, the group set two wreaths afloat and sprinkled white flower petals on the open water of Sunda Strait in memory of those "who still stand watch."

The U.S.S. Houston Survivors Association placed plaques and monuments in honor of their lost crew members at the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredricksburg, Texas, the Arlington National Cemetery, and the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu (in cooperation with the Lost Battalion Association). In 1995, members of the Texas Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States dedicated a beautiful monument to the U.S.S. Houston and her crew, capped by the ship's bell, in downtown Houston. Every year since then, as many as two hundred members of the Survivors Association have met at the monument on the Saturday nearest March 1st for a memorial service to honor their lost crew members.

In 1991 the Survivors Association decided to branch out in an effort to keep their story alive for future generations. They formed a complementary group called the Next Generation, made up of children and younger relatives of survivors. After Otto Schwarz lost his eyesight in 1997, two dedicated members of the Next Generation agreed to assume the responsibility of publishing the Blue Bonnet and managing the Survivors Associaton.

Editor Val Roberts-Poss is the daughter of a Houston crew member and survivor, the late Valdon Roberts, and co-editor Lin Drees is the cousin of a Marine from the Houston who died on the Burma-Thai Railway, James Raydell Wilson. When asked about her commitment to keeping the organization going, Roberts-Poss says, "This isn't just something that happened; it happened to someone of ours. We have their blood running through our veins."

Under the direction of the Roberts-Poss, Drees, and co-editor Otto Schwarz, the Blue Bonnet continues to come out four times a year, full of information and stories about the U.S.S. Houston. Roberts-Poss and Drees also organize the annual memorial service in Houston, and continue the work of forging connections among the survivors and the friends and family members of those who served on the U.S.S. Houston.