to perpetuate the memory and history of our dead

9.5 26th FA Bde

JUNE 2025 Update:

One of the larger holes in my massive jigsaw puzzle is that involving the 26th Field Artillery Brigade. We know that an element of that command landed on Java with the 2/131 in Jan 1942. Then they largely disappear. They manifest themselves in part in late Feb 42. As the Japanese invasion of Java was imminent, most of them were evacuated to Australia along with the ABDACOM senior staff.

Precisely what units fell under the command of the 26th Brigade is hotly debated. In addition to the 2/131 the most oft mentioned regiments are the 1/148th of the IDAHO NG and the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 147th South Dakota NG. Each of these units were active in the Pacific Theater having passed through Australia at some point in their deployment, but whether or not they were part of the 26th Brigade is not well documented.

By definition, a Brigade is composed of multiple battalions (minimum of two) and generally contains other support elements like Engineers, Medical and Logistics. There is no indication that any such elements were ever part of the 26th. Some documents suggest that the 26th was denoted as a Provisional Command. This could indicate that that it never fully developed into a combat command. The only unit that is consistently linked to the 26th is the 2/131 since they were both on Java. But just what part of the 26th was there? Possibly it was only COL Searle’s HQ element; perhaps indicating there were no other combat troops yet assigned or involved.

Therefore, it is highly likely that the force that arrived at Surabaya with the 2/131 in Jan 42 was quite small and possibly only a HQ element. There is a notation in LTC Tharp’s war diary that he visited COL Searle at the US Forces Command office in Bandoenf, Java in late Feb 42. It is highly likely that this is when he received the orders to join Black Force in support of the Australians. Whether or not this is when the transfer of troops took place is unknown.

In a rather odd exchange, some members of the 2/131 were transferred to the AAF. They, too, departed for Australia. Those men were replaced by transferring 17 men from the 26th into the 2/131. The Brigade commander, COL Albert Searle, apparently decided not to depart. There is some speculation that he intended to launch a guerilla campaign. Whether or not those 17 men were with him is not clear. LTC Tharp lists them as added to the rolls of the 2/131 but not how or when. There is a notation that COL Searle and two enlisted men arrived at the Bicycle Camp in mid-April – before the main group of artillerymen. As a senior officer, Searle was soon dispatched to Japan and ultimately the Mukden Camp in Manchuria.

In a post-war interview, survivor Ben Dunn related that an 18th member of the 26th was so fearful of dying on the ship to Australia that he went AWOL and eventually was joined with the 2/131, but that soldier was never named.  

It was immediately after such a meeting between Tharp and Searle that the ABDACOM staff were evacuated which likely included most of COL Searle’s command however many there were. Elements of the 1/148th are noted to have been in Darwin during the Japanese attack on that port. But this attack took place on 19 FEB 42. They later deployed to New Guiana in support of GEN MacArthur’s advance on that island. There are no confirmed reports that they deployed to Java.     

The Pensacola Convoy: The composition of the convoy that departed the USA in DEC 41 destine originally for the Philippines but diverted to Australian after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the simultaneous invasion of Luzon is very well documented.

The presence of various Nat’l Guard artillery units in this convoy may be the origin of their association with the 26th FA Brigade. There is, however, no clear documentation of such.  

Key Ships in the Convoy: [per CHATGPT]

  • USS Pensacola (CA-24) – Heavy cruiser, flagship
  • USS Chaumont (AP-5) – Troop transport
  • USS Republic (AP-33) – Troop transport
  • USS Willard A. Holbrook (AP-19) – Transport
  • USS Meigs (AP-116) – Transport

📌 Historical Significance:

  • The Pensacola Convoy marked the first large-scale U.S. Army deployment to Australia.
  • It became the foundation of the U.S. military presence in Australia, which expanded rapidly throughout 1942.

Convoy Composition & Ships

  • Escort:
    • USS Pensacola (CA‑24) – Heavy cruiser, flagship
    • Later joined by Australian ships (HMAS Canberra, Perth) and HMNZS Achilles near New Caledonia
  • Transports & Freighters:
    • USAT Willard A. Holbrook – Carried 1st & 2nd Bns, 147th FA (SD NG) and 1st Bn, 148th FA (ID NG) (~2,000 troops)
    • USAT Republic (AP‑33) – Transported 2nd Bn, 131st FA (TX NG) and 36th Signal Platoon, plus 48 fighter pilots (35th Pursuit Group)
    • USAT Chaumont (AP‑5) – Carried civilian workers and general military cargo
    • USAT Meigs – Transported aircraft (A‑24 dive bombers), munitions & gear; later sunk at Darwin
    • Bloemfontein (Dutch motor ship) – Transported artillery personnel and equipment for 2/131 FA, later sent to Java

👥 Personnel & Units

  • Field Artillery Units (~2,000 NG troops):
    • HQ & HQ Battery, 26th Field Artillery Brigade [see below]
    • 2nd Battalion, 131st FA Regiment (Texas NG)
    • 1st & 2nd Battalions, 147th FA Regiment (South Dakota NG)
    • 1st Battalion, 148th FA Regiment (Idaho NG)       
  • USAAF Personnel & Aircraft:
    • 2,600 Air Corps personnel
    • 52 Douglas A‑24 dive bombers (27th Bomb Group) aboard Meigs
    • 18 crated Curtiss P‑40 fighters (35th Pursuit Group) on Bloemfontein + 48 pilots on Republic; 39 pilots aboard Holbrook 190 officers & men of the 453rd Ordnance (Aviation) Bombardment Company aboard Republic

1/148 FA IDAHO NG [per WIKIPEDIA]

Ordered to the Pacific the regiment, less one battalion, embarked on USAT Willard A. Holbrook 22 November 1941 for the Philippines. With the Pensacola Convoy the regiment was diverted to Australia arriving Brisbane on 22 December where, after reloading, the Holbrook departed with the regiment on 28 December in a failed attempt to make the Philippines to reinforce forces there getting no further than Darwin where the regiment was broken up. One battalion and the headquarters unit were ordered to defend Kupang, Timor sailing in convoy 15 February from Darwin aboard Portmar and Tulagi but had to turn back to Darwin under heavy air attack. The convoy arrived Darwin on 18 February, the day before the port was heavily bombed and many ships lost.

Summary

It is likely that the pace of developments and deployments in late DEC 41 prevented the full development of the 26th Field Artillery Brigade from a provisional to an actual combat unit. The only documented deployment of troops designated as the 26th is that element (HQ and HQ Battery noted above) that accompanied the 2/131 to Java in early JAN 42. It is quite possible therefore that the only troops actually assigned to the 26th were HQ personnel under the command of COL Searle.

In other words, there were no other American combat units on Java besides the 2/131. This would be a reasonable explanation for why they alone were assigned to support Black Force and that the few personnel of COL Searle’s HQ were evacuated with the ABDACOM staff. The statement that ‘the 26th FA Bde’ arrived on Java in Jan 42 should perhaps read that an ‘HQ element’ of the 26th FA Bde arrived on Java in Jan 42. IOW there was never a functional combat force designated as the 26th FA Bde.

To date, I have been unable to find any reference to the 26th FA Bde after FEB 42. It seems that once this small group departed Java they ceased to exist. This would be in concert with the designation as a Provisional unit. Upon reaching Australian, (particularly without their commander) those men were simply absorbed into other units.

Other than COL Searle and the 18 men who transferred into the 2/131, we have no list of men assigned to the 26th making it impossible to track them post-evacuation.

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[The text below reflects an ealry and somewhat incorrect assessment of the units that deployed to Java in Jan 1942}

The LOST BATTALION were not the only US Army unit on Java. There was also the 26th Field Artillery Brigade commanded by COL Albert Searle. The 26th was a regular Army unit; not Nation Guard. They boarded the SS REPUBLIC in SFCA along with the 2/131 but remained a separate and independent unit. Since COL Searle was senior to LTC Tharp, he would have been in overall command of the Army forces.

Both units landed in Brisbane but it is unclear as to exactly where the 26th was housed [see below]. TXNG survivor accounts simply make no mention of them. In fact, the 26th FA Brigade has an almost nonexistent internet history. One version of their brief history can be found at

https://www.ozatwar.com/usarmy/pfab.htm but it does not exactly jive with other versions.  

COL Searle and his 26th FA Bde accompanied the 2/131 to Java, but here too, their history gets a bit muddled. Interviews conducted by Dr. Marcello of the University of North Texas Oral History Program included 2 members of this unit who were taken as POWs on Java in March 1942. Interviews with Martin Chambers and Benjamin Dunn (OH 575 & 1329 respectively) tell the tale of these two 26th members who were taken as POW along with the majority of the 2/131. They relate that 17-18 members of that unit were incorporated into the TXNG 2/131 FA Bn at Malang DEI just as the invasion of Java was beginning. It is apparent that some of the members of the 26th disembarked at Sarabaja and traveled with the 2/131 to Malang on the eastern portion of the island. Exactly where the remainder of the 26th went is undocumented. We do know that COL Searle operated out of the Allied (ABDA) HQ near Batavia and it is likely that he was the one who ordered LTC Tharp to support what became known as Black Force under the command of AUS Brigadier Arthur S. Blackburn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Blackburn

The senior US military officer in the ABDA HQ was Major-General Julian Francis Barnes. He commanded what was known as US Forces-Java. That would have included the 26th and 2/131 (TXNG) as the only combat forces.

In the final week of February, all but the TXNG unit were evacuated to Australia. But the precise nature of that evacuation and why it did not include the TXNG artillerymen is unknown. It is also worth noting that about 2 dozen of the TXNG were transferred to the AAF and departed Java with the B-17 and B-24 bombers. It was at this same time that the 18 members of the 26th were added to the 2/131. They may have been done so as replacements for the AAF transfers. But why those men were at Malang and not Batavia is unclear. It is also of note that 10 members of the 2/131 had been attached to the ABDA HQ as liaison and were evacuated rather than being returned to their unit in Feb ’42. Their story is related by Glenn Pace in the UNT Oral History interview # 34.

COL Searle, himself, did not in fact evacuate. He is said to have stayed on the island with approximately 50 men and attempted to evade captivity and possible to try to foment a guerilla war. But all were soon captured and sent to the POW camp known as the Bicycle Camp in Batavia. COL Searle was soon separated and sent to the senior military officers POW camp in Mukden Manchuria. He is documented as having been liberated from there in 1945.

He passed away in DEC 1965 and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

DSC Citation Synopsis
Colonel (Field Artillery) Albert C. Searle, United States Army, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy, in action against enemy forces on 27 February 1942. Colonel Searle’s intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

Also see Section 3.8

https://www.sonsoflibertymuseum.org/pows/searle-albert-s69595141.cfm

In his book, BAMBOO EXPRESS, Benjamin Dunn a mbr of the 26th explains the reason 18 and not 17 men ended up in the 2/131:

{pg18} About February 20 ,1942 , seventeen men of the 26th Brigade were notified that we were being transferred to the 131st Field Artillery. The remaining men—100 or so— were scheduled to return to Australia. Most of those men were anxious t o return to Australia and one private actually broke down and cried for a chance to go ,while another reportedly was so scared of the risks involved on a return trip that he went A.W .O. L. and was left in Java with the rest of us. We found out after the war that the 26th did leave in time to make it to Australia–so they had to be luckier than we. Naturally, all of us would’ve liked to have been with those leaving.

This also clarifies that the 2/131 & 26th stayed together in Malang / Singosari. Apparently only COL Searle and perhaps a few staff went on to Batavia. The reason for the re-call of the 26th to Australia is not clear. Nor does there seem to be any roster or accounting of the 50 or so men who were reportedly with COL Searle in his ‘guerilla’ force. They and Searle may or may not have been with the 2/131 at the Bicycle Camp. It does seems as though Searle passed through Singapore during the time that the Tharp group was there.