John A. Austin

John Arnold Austin (born 1905; died December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii) was a U.S. Navy Chief Warrant Officer killed in the Japanese attack that prompted the United States to enter World War II.

Austin grew up in Warrior and enlisted in the Navy in 1920, when he was 15 years old. He was assigned to the aging U.S.S. Oklahoma (BB-37) which was based a Pearl Harbor beginning in late 1937. The ship was hit by several torpedoes during the surprise Japanese attack and was soon capsized. Austin, trapped below deck, managed to open a porthole below the waterline. He assisted 15 sailors in making their escape, but did not himself get out.

Austin was awarded a posthumous Navy Cross for actions, "in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service." The escort destroyer U.S.S. Austin is named in his honor. Austin's remains were originally among those buried in the nearby Halawa and Nu’uana cemeteries. After the war concluded, those remains were disinterred as part of an effort to identify individuals. Still unidentified, his were among the remains of 45 crew from the Oklahoma that were reinteered at the National Cemetery of the Pacific. New forensic technologies led to the resumption of efforts to identify those remains in 2015. Austin's remains were identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in September 2018.

References

• Gore, Leada (January 9, 2019) "WWII remains identified: Alabama sailor John Austin credited with saving 15 lives at Pearl Harbor." The Birmingham News