Rank and Name, Private Chalmer Wayne Austin.
Unit/Placed in, 803rd Engineer Battalion, Aviation.
Camp Pasay
Pasay School [Nichols Field]
The Camp, from 100 to 450 men were levied from Bilibid Prison at various times. The vast majority were survivors of Corregidor. The Camp known as the Pasay School on Park Avenue, 1mile from the actual digging site. Were build a runway expansion at Nichols field by tearing through an entire mountain by hand Nihols Field was a primary labor use.
Japanese Camp Staff, they were known as Cherry Blossom, Pistol Pete, The Fox, Saki Sam, The Wolf, The Fox and the most evil, The White Angel.
Arisan Maru
The Arisan Maru was a Hell Ships (former Cargo, used for Transport POW’s to other Camps) sunk on Nov. 24, 1944.
The Arisan Maru, sailed from Manila on October 11, 1944 for Japan. This ship was sunk by the American submarine, USS Shark with three torpedoes, on November 24, 1944. There were 1800 POWs aboard – nine men survived this sinking. Two days later, five of the survivors were rescued by a Chinese fishing junk. The Chinese helped them reach American Air Corps forces. Other survivors were recaptured by a Japanese destroyer and taken to Formosa.
This Hell Ship sank in the South China Sea making it the worst naval disaster in the history of the United States.
Chalmer is born approx. on 10 Nov. 1911 in Hamilton, Illinois.
Mother, Nellie E. (Glines) Austin.
Brother(s), Merlin V. Austin.
Chalmer enlisted the service in Indiana with service number # 36115743.
Chalmer was KIA when the Arisan Maru was Torpedoed, he tried to escape and the Japanese guards shot him on Oct 24, 1944, he is honored with a Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, Army Presidential Unit Citation, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, WW II Victory Medal.
Chalmer is buried/mentioned at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial Manila, Metro Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines.
Walls of the missing.
Thanks to,
Jean Louis Vijgen, WW2-Pacific Website.
Air Force Info, Rolland Swank.
ABMC Website, https://abmc.gov
Seabees History Bob Smith https://seabeehf.org/
Navy Info, http://navylog.navymemorial.org
POW Info, http://www.mansell.com Dwight Rider and Wes injerd.
Navy Seal Memorial, http://www.navysealmemorials.com
Family Info, https://www.familysearch.org
Marines Info, https://missingmarines.com/ Geoffrey Roecker
Info, https://www.pacificwrecks.com/
Medals Info, https://www.honorstates.org
Philippine Info, http://www.philippine-scouts.org/
Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com
