Tarrant County Obituaries – Colston Addison (Carl) Back, Jr. *********************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Charlotte Coble Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ***********************************************   Mansfield News Mirror August 17 1989     Former POW Colston Addison (Carl) Back, Jr., 67, Mansfield native and survivor of a Japanese prison camp during World War II, died July 27, 1989, in Tulsa, Okla. Mr. Back was a petty officer 1st Class on the USS Houston when it was sunk March 4, 1942, in the Sundra Straights.  He and six other crewmen were captured on a Java beach after swimming 15 miles from the ship wreckage.  He was a prisoner of war for six and one-half years. He was among some 200 Americans who built the 275-mile railroad from Moulmein, Burma to Bangkok, Thailand, the railroad upon which the movie, Bridge Over the River Kwai was based. Services were held at 11 a.m., Monday, July 31, at Memorial Park Chapel in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Interment followed in Memorial Park Cemetery, Tulsa. Mr. Back was born on a farm in Mansfield, Oct. 6, 1920, the son of Colston Addition and Lula Beatrice Deakle Back, Sr.  He married Dorothy Howell, Dec. 20, 1946, Blanchard, Okla. Survivors:  Wife, Dorothy Back of Tulsa; two daughters, Elaine Robinson and Judy Brown, both of Tulsa; five grandchildren; cousin, Frances Back Nifong of Mansfield; brother, Morris Back of Pasadena, Texas; and sister, Martha Speck of Baytown.