Rank and Name, Private First Class John Herbert Austin.
Unit/Placed in, 4th Marines (Service Comp.), United States Marine Corps.
Camp Bilibid
Former Civilian prison converted to a POW camp, hospital and transit camp for POWS. Almost every man captured on Corregidor passed through this camp at one time or another. As it was a transit point for movement to other camps First major use as transit point for high ranking officers from Bataan and for all men from Corregidor. Pfc.!!!! became a POW and was imprisoned at Pow Camp Bilibid (Manila) he survived the Bataan Death March.
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.
John is born approx. on 6 March 1918 in Superior, Wisconsin.
Parents and Siblings, No Record Available.
John enlisted the service in Minnesota with service number # 280865.
John was KIA when the Arisan Maru was Torpedoed, he tried to escape but the Japanese guards shot him on Oct 24, 1944, he is honored with a Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Marine Good Conduct Medal, Marine Expeditionary Medal, American Campaign Medal, Navy & Marine Presidential Unit Citation, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, WW II Victory Medal.
John 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
