Austin Halterman, a native of Parowan, Utah, arrived in the Philippines in October of 1941 as a bombardier with the 93rd Bombardment Squadron of the 19th Bombardment Group.

Ten hours after the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Japanese forces were attacking American bases in the Philippines.

In May of 1942, following the fall of Corregidor, Private Halterman was listed as Missing in Action. Over a year later, in June of 1943, his family was notified that he was a Prisoner of War.

The Halterman family received a postcard from Austin in September of 1943, claiming that his health was excellent and he was in Prison Camp 10-A, now known to be located at Palawan, Philippines. A card received in August of 1944 indicated that he had been transferred to Prison Camp 10-C, which was at Clark Field. He mentioned that he would like to see his daughter, Judy.

In 1944, as the Americans were preparing to land in the Philippines to reclaim control, the Japanese began to relocate prisoners of war closer to Japan. On 24 October 1944, the Japanese freighter Arisan Maru was torpedoed and sunk in the Bashi Straits of the South China Sea by a U. S. submarine that was then hit and sunk by a Japanese destroyer. Of the 1,781 Prisoners of War aboard the Arisan Maru, only 9 survived. This was the greatest loss of American life in a single military sinking.

It was not until June of 1945 that the Japanese released a list of names of the prisoners aboard the ill-fated ship and the Halterman family received word that Austin was on the ship and did not survive.

Austin Lee Halterman was born 23 October 1918 and raised in Parowan, Utah, the fourth of eleven children born to Robert and Bertha Rasmussen Halterman. His grandparents were George S. and Phoebe Benson Halterman and John T. and Anna Louisa Mortensen Rasmussen.

An outstanding athlete, Austin received a scholarship to play basketball at Brigham Young University in 1939. A year later, he went to Southern California to work. While there, he met and married Wilma Heywood.

Austin enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 4 January 1941 and received training at March Field, CA, Albuquerque, NM and Edwards Air Field, CA. On 25 September 1941, while Austin’s wife was in the hospital at Los Angeles giving birth to their daughter Judyth Ann, Austin’s unit passed through the city on the way to San Fransisco and then on to Clark Field in the Philippines. Austin never saw his young daughter.

According to a life sketch by daughter Judyth Ann, “PFC Halterman took part in the defense of the islands and was captured when the defenses on Corregidor finally surrendered. Austin survived the infamous Bataan Death March and continued to influence people around him for good. He had several close friendships with his fellow prisoners who loved and respected him. One of his closest friends was a young cowboy from Montana, John Shadoan, whom Austin especially influenced. John survived the war, married Austin’s widow in 1945, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and raised Austin’s daughter as his own.”

After the family was notified of the loss, the local Parowan, Utah newspaper listed surviving brothers and sisters: “Elwyn Halterman, Long Beach; Lynn Halterman, Sahara Village, Utah; Ensigns Robert J. and Jerry J. Halterman in the Hawaiian Islands with the Navy Air Corps; Lt. Daryl Halterman of the Army Air Corps; Maurine Rosenberg, Los Angeles; Lois, Ralph, Bud and Orland Halterman of this city.”

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

++Sources:++

Life Sketch of Austin Halterman by his daughter Judy Halterman Peterson.

Parowan Times, 21 Feb 1941, 26 Jun 1942, 25 Jun 1943, 10 Sep 1943, 19 Nov 1943, 17 Dec 1943, 25 Aug 1944, 22 Jun 1945. From https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/

http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/USAAF/19th_Bombardment_Group.html#4

https://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/Camps-Philippines.htm

https://www.us-japandialogueonpows.org/Bowen.htm

https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/winter/hell-ships-1.html

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Austin L Halterman