George was
born in February 1921 as the youngest son of seven children born to Charles
Henry and Irma Mary (Wilbur) Anspaugh. All the children were born in Hillsdale
County, MI less than thirty miles from Steuben County, IN. Sometime in the late
1920s the family moved to Steuben County, George attended Scott Center High
School in Steuben County, IN where he was active in baseball and basketball. He
was described as having a pleasant nature and good humor. He was admired by a
wide circle of friends.
Shortly
after graduating from high school in the June 1940, he enlisted in the
Navy in September 1940 following his brother Louis who enlisted in July. Upon
successful completion of boot camp, he was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania
(BB-38) alongside his brother Louis. While on board the USS Pennsylvania they
conducted training missions in and around Hawaii. Fate intervened and George
was transferred in August of 1941 to the USS Houston (CA-30) stationed in the
Philippines. While it is not exactly known what George did abroad ship, S2/c
duties include knowing naval drill, knots, steering, signaling, gunnery duties and
of course standing watch. One can imagine what he could be doing during the
faithful days of the USS Houston, they had a strong crew well-disciplined, the captain
was awarded Medal of Honor for his actions and the chaplain of the ship awarded
the Naval Cross, the only chaplain to be awarded such an honor during World War
Two, this is part of his story.
On the night of the Pearl Harbor (George's brother Louis
who was in Pearl Harbor was not injured during attack) George with the USS Houston got underway from Panay Island(Philippines)
with fleet units bound for Darwin, Australia, where
she arrived on 28 December 1941, after patrol duty, she joined the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA)
naval force at Surabaya. During the
month of February in the seas around the Indonesian islands Java and Sumatra was
a hotbed of Japanese activity, air raids were frequent in the area, on numerous
occasions during this month the USS Houston and allied task force encountered
Japanese forces in which they were usually out gunned. USS Houston distinguished herself with
barrages which made her "like a sheet of flame”, with 12 confirmed kills
from the gunners. On 28 February, USS Houston and HMAS Perth reached Tanjong
Priok where they attempted to resupply but were met with fuel shortages and no
available ammunition. They were ordered to sail to Tjilatjap, the Allies
believed that Sunda Strait was free of enemy vessels, with the last
intelligence reports indicating that Japanese warships were no closer than 50
miles, but a large Japanese force had assembled there. At 23:06, lookouts on the Perth sighted an unidentified
ship; when it was realized that she was a Japanese destroyer, Perth engaged. However, as this
happened, multiple Japanese warships appeared and surrounded the two Allied
ships.
The two cruisers evaded the nine torpedoes launched by the destroyer Fubuki. The cruisers then reportedly sank one transport and forced three others to beach but were blocked from passing through Sunda Strait by a destroyer squadron and had to contend with the heavy cruisers Mogami and Mikuma in close proximity. At midnight, Perth attempted to force a way through the destroyers, but was hit by four torpedoes in the space of a few minutes, then subject to close-range gunfire until sinking at 00:25 on 1 March. On board the USS Houston, shells were in short supply in the forward turrets, so the crew manhandled shells from the disabled number three turret to the forward turrets. Houston was struck by a torpedo shortly after midnight and began to lose headway. Houston's gunners had scored hits on three different destroyers and sunk a minesweeper, but she was struck by three more torpedoes in quick succession. As the ship came to a stop, Japanese destroyers moved in, machine-gunning the decks. A few minutes later, Houston rolled over and sank. Of the 1,061 aboard, 368 survived, including 24 Marines from the ship’s detachment, only to be captured by the Japanese and interned in prison camps. Of 368 Navy and Marine Corps personnel taken prisoner, 77 died in captivity.
It was during this last engagement that George was reported
missing, it was not until after the 291 prisoners were released (George was not
among them) from their Japanese prison camps after the war 1945 that the full
story of the USS Houston and Georges fate was known. On 15 December 1945 George
was pronounced dead from that February 28th 1942 battle becoming the
first causality in World War Two from Steuben County.
Awards: Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation with Bronze Star,
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War 2 Victory Medal, National Defense
Medal
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