Augustus John Cullen was born on July 12, 1915, in Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana. He was the son of Augustus I. Cullen and Catharine Agnes Westrick Cullen. He was married to Ann Grace Nall. He was married to Evelyn M. Phillips. He attended Bucyrus High School and was also a member of the Bucyrus Unit of the Ohio National Guard during three years of his high school career. In 1935–1936, Augustus John Cullen attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor before earning an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1936, through the nomination of Congressman Brooks Fletcher of Ohio’s Eighth District. He entered West Point in July 1936.

Upon graduating in June 1940 with the rank of Second Lieutenant, he was commissioned into the U.S. Army. He departed in September for his first post at Corregidor, Philippines. When war broke out, he fought bravely until the island’s surrender and was captured by Japanese forces on May 6, 1942. Cullen was held at Camp Cabanatuan. In December 1944, he and hundreds of other prisoners were loaded onto Japanese transport ships bound for Japan; the first vessel was sunk off the Philippines, and the survivors were transferred to another ship that was torpedoed off Formosa. The remaining prisoners, including Cullen, were then sent to Camp Fukuoka, Japan, where the harsh journey left him severely weakened. Suffering from pneumonia brought on by exposure, he died on February 9, 1945. He is now buried in the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery, West Point, Orange County, New York, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, alumni.westpointaog.org