Austen Marlin M.

Monuments

B-29 'Sweet Sixteen' (44-61666) Crash Site Memorial

Name:

Marlin M. Austen

Rank:

Corporal

Serial Number:

15128480

Unit:

873rd Bomber Squadron, 498th Bomber Group

Date of Death:

1945-09-04

State:

Ohio

Cemetery:

Wooster Cemetery, Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio

Plot:

Section 28

Row:

Grave:

Lot 2545

Decoration:

Comments:

Marlin M. Austen was born in 1926. He was the son of Ivan Evans Austen and Mildred Irene Fox Austen.

Marlin served in the 873rd Bomber Squadron, 498th Bomber Group, as a Corporal and Right Waist Gunner on the B-29 #44-61666 'Sweet Sixteen' during World War II.

On September 4, 1945, the crew was dropping relief supplies to the POW camp in Kawaminami Kogyo Koyagijima Shipyard in Koyagi Village, Nishisonogi District, Nagasaki Prefecture (now Koyagi Town, Nagasaki City ). However, due to an unknown circumstance, they crashed into Mount Sashiki on the opposite shore of Koyagi Island, killing thirteen members of the crew (including Cpl Austen). Only one survived. The bodies of those who were killed were cremated in the pow camp by the prisoners of war and enshrined in the Oura Catholic Church. Cpl Austen has a cenotaph in the Wooster Cemetery, Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, USA.