USS HOUSTON CA 30

“The galloping Ghost of the Java Coast”

A. F. Nethken

Submitted by Nancy Nethken niece of A. F. Nethken

He was th oldest of five children, born to Harley Joseph and Gwendalyn Taylor Nethken. Alva graduated from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston LA, prior to joining the Navy. His four brother and sister all eventually joined the Navy.The youngest Robert, my father, joined just after Pearl Harbor and a week before his eighteenth birthday.

My father remembers him as a kindly person who had a great love for his country and was proud to serve her. My grandmother mourned him for the remainder of her life, and could never speak of him due to the grief she felt. That grief did not diminish even until her death at age 92; more than 50 years later.