USS HOUSTON CA 30

“The galloping Ghost of the Java Coast”

WILLIAM EVERETT GARRETT

Machinists' Mate Second Class USN

William Everett (Billy Bob) Garrett was born and raised in Hempstead, Texas. Billy Garrett was an avid hunter and outdoorsman during his brief lifetime growing up in Texas. He graduated from Waller High School in 1934 and the following year he enlisted in the Navy. He began his service in Submarine Squadron Three aboard the USS Mallard. After being transferred to the USS Houston, he had the priviledge of being on maneuvers when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was aboard in 1939. At the end of his military career, which spanned 7 years, he reached the level of Machinists' Mate Second class. Prior to the sinking of the Cruiser Houston in 1942, in a letter to his parents, William Everett Garrett said: "I have never said anything like this before but if I go down I will go down for something that I feel is more important that life." William Garrett was killed when the Cruiser Houston was sunk by the Japanese in the Sunda Strait, March 1, 1942. It would be years before he was declared dead not missing in action.. He left behind his dad, mother, 3 sister, three brothers, many relatives and friends. He was 25 years old.