Marvin Edwar Sholar was born on August 12, 1912 in Grady County, Georgia, and died March 16, 1985 in Leon County, Florida. He was the son of Samuel Curtiss Sholar and Hannah McMillan. This is a veteran's story shared by Jim Sholar on 12/24/07. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. He was a Signalman. This story came from the website AmericanProfile.com.
MARVIN EDWARD SHOLAR was born on August 12, 1912 in Grady County, Georgia, and died March 16, 1985 in Leon County Florida. He was the son of Samuel Curtiss Sholar and Hannah McMillan. He married PATRICIA JOYCE JORDAN July of 1942. She was born January 30, 1923 in Australia. She died in Tallahasse, FL December 21, 2003 and was buried December 27, 2003 Roselawn Cemetery.
Marvin served his country in the US Navy during WWII. Marvin Sholar had served on the Northampton Class American heavy cruiser USS Houston CA-30 during WWII. She was the flagship for a proud Asiatic Fleet at the beginning of WWII. When the USS Houston put out to sea with the ABDA fleet (Allied Fleet of American, British, Dutch and Australian ships) to seek out the Japanese Fleet, several crew were assigned to the Dutch Ships, Java and DeRuyter. On the day the Houston arrived in the harbor of (Soerabaja) Surabaya, Signalman 1C just prior to the Java Sea Battle. There were at least three other US. Navy personnel who were aboard this ship for temporary duty. They were Lt. Otto Ferdinand Kolb, Jack Wilbur Penhallow SM3C and Signalman Daniel Spiro Rafalovich. All were assigned to assist with the translation of commands among the multi-national Allied Fleet.
During the late evening hours on February 27, 1942, the Battle of the Java Sea raged. Due to the sinking of several of the fleet's destroyers, the cruisers of the striking force were now without any destroyer protection. This dangerous situation was aggravated by the fact that enemy planes continued to light their course with flares. But Admiral Doorman's orders were, "You must continue attacks until the enemy is destroyed," and he pressed on north with a grim determination to reach the enemy convoy.
Although the Allied Fleet was suffering from the losses of either sinking or heavy damage, the fleet pressed on. It is doubtful if he ever knew how close he did come to reaching it in this last magnificent attempt. The convoy had in fact remained in the area west or southwest of Bawean.
At 1850 a PBY from Patrol Wing TEN had taken off to shadow it in the bright moonlight. At 1955 this plane saw star shells above 3 crusiers and 8 destroyers on a northerly course about 30 miles southwest of Bawean. As these appeared to be our own striking force, no contact report was made. At 2235 our PBY found the convoy southwest of Bawean. Twenty-eight ships were counted in 2 groups, escorted by a cruiser and a destroyer. At this moment Admiral Doorman was headed toward this very spot, but it is doubtful if he ever received our plane's report. At 2315 the De Ruyter signaled, "Target at port four points." In that direction were seen two cruisers which opened fire from a distance of about 9000 yards. Perth replied with two or three salvos which landed on one of the enemy cruisers for several hits.
The Japanese thereupon fired star shells which exploded between their ships and the Allied Fleet. Shortly afterward the De Ruyter received a hit aft and turned to starboard away from the enemy, followed by our other cruisers. As the Java, which had not been under enemy fire, turned to follow there was a tremendous explosion aft, evidently caused by a torpedo coming from port. Within a few seconds the whole after part of the ship was enveloped in flames.
The De Ruyter had continued her turn onto a southeasterly course when, very closely after the Java, she too was struck by a deadly torpedo. United States Signalman Sholar reported having seen a torpedo track on relative bearing 135 degrees. There was an extraordinarily heavy explosion followed by fire. Perth, behind the flagship, swung sharply to the left to avoid a collision, while the Houston turned out of column to starboard.
The crew of the De Ruyter assembled forward, as the after part of the ship up to the catapult was in flames. In a moment the 40-mm. ammunition began to explode, causing many casualties and the ship had to be abandoned. She sank within a few minutes. For some time her foremast structure remained above the water, until a heavy explosion took the ship completely out of sight. It is said that an American signalman was "blown off" the ship before being sunk.
As the battle persisted, the survivors of the sinking of the De Ruyter managed to get into an open lifeboat and spent the rest of the night floating at sea. Lt. Ott Ferdinand Kolb was killed in action on board the DeRuyter that night. The USS Houston was also sunk during the battle of the Sunda Strait, 28 Feb. - 1 March 42. It was sunk by gunfire and torpedoes from Imperial Japanese Navy cruisers Mogami & Mikuma and destroyers.
The USS Houston and it's valiant crew fought until it could fight no more and in its last breath, with little fuel and ammunition left, charged with suicidal fury at flank speed into the middle of a powerful Japanese Battle Fleet. The Houston and her lone remaining ally from the Java Sea Battle of two days before (the HMRS Perth) were blasted out of the water. Few survived...More than 700 of the ship's complement of 1015 officers and men lost their lives. Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison called the Houston's fight "one of the most gallant in American naval annals."
Along the Houston, 22 American warships were destroyed in desperate sea battles in the opening two months of the war. Numerous British, Australian, and Dutch warships were lost as well. These sailors and ships were sacrificed to gain time for future victories. Only two months after the Asiatic Fleet ceased to exist, the American and Allied fleets began to build on the victories at Coral Sea and Midway.
Meanwhile, off in the darkness of night patrolling for the enemy was the United States submarine S-37. Though troubled with leaking oil tanks and the other mechanical problems typical of old submarines, she continued to patrol as the Japanese onslaught steadily advanced.
All through the night hours the Battle of the Java Sea raged over the horizon. With the dawn hour approaching on February 28, USS-37 closed in on a Japanese formation of two cruisers and three destroyers retiring victoriously from the scene. A fight for depth control, however, precluded an attack.
At mid-day, she sighted a 50-foot open lifeboat crowded with 60 Allied survivors from Dutch light cruiser, De Ruyter. Although she was unable to accommodate all of those in the boat, she approached to take on casualties. Finding no casualties, she took on American sailors, Signalman SM1c Sholar and SM3c Jack Wilbur Penhallow SM3C but, could not take more. The captain of the USS-37 ordered that 5 days' rations and water for the others be transferred; dispatched enciphered messages on the boat's location to ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian) headquarters; and resumed her patrol.
That afternoon, she again attempted to attack an enemy formation, but was sighted and underwent a combined depth charging aerial bombing. The fourth American survivor of the De Ruyter sinking, Signalman Daniel Spiro Rafalovich, was rescued with some Dutch sailors out of the Java Sea by a Japanese destroyer and was made POW. He survived the war and died December 20, 1998. After returning to duty, Marvin later received a battle commission and attained the rank Lt. Commander. In all, he had three different ships shot out from under him during action in WWII.
He saw action against the Japanese in the Pacific Theater of Operations and also participated in the invasion of Normandy, D-Day in France. For his distinguished service during the war he received the China Service Medal, American Defense Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal and the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with five Bronze Stars.
In civilian life, he later made residence in Tallahassee, Leon, FL. He was an officer and a true gentleman. Some of this information comes from the book the "Henderson and Sholar Lineages of Duplin County" and a 1st cousin named Jack Clanton as well as US NAVY sources.
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