Brigadier General Austin Conner Shofner (March 3, 1916 – November 13, 1999) was a United States Marine Corps officer who was captured during the Battle of Corregidor and then part of the only successful escape from a Japanese prisoner of war camp. He joined the Philippine resistance, and later returned to command units of the Marine Corps in the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa.
Early life
Austin C. Shofner was born on March 3, 1916, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as the son of Austin W. Shofner. He attended the high school in Shelbyville, Tennessee, and subsequently enrolled in the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. While at the university he was active on the wrestling and football team under famous Robert Neyland and was also a member of the ROTC unit. He graduated in the summer of 1937 with Bachelor of Science degree in commerce and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps on August 5, 1937.
As any other newly commissioned marine officer, Shofner was ordered to the Basic School at Philadelphia Navy Yard for further officer training. Many of his instructors were distinguished officers later, including Chesty Puller, Gilder D. Jackson Jr., Leonard B. Cresswell, Russell N. Jordahl, Howard N. Kenyon, and Roy M. Gulick. Shofner also attended the gunnery school aboard the battleship USS Nevada and was later attached to the Marine detachment aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma in August 1938. He participated in the patrols off the coast of Hawaii until June 1939, when he completed his tour of sea duty and reported for duty at Marine Corps Base San Diego, California.
Shofner was attached as first lieutenant to the 6th Marine Regiment there under the command of Colonel Samuel L. Howard. Because of his football experiences, he was appointed assistant coach of San Diego Marines and led them in the seasons 1939 and 1940. Shofner then served with 2nd Marine Regiment under Joseph C. Fegan from January to April 1941 and then sailed for Shanghai, China in May 1941 as a member of the Headquarters Company of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines under lieutenant Colonel Donald Curtis.
World War II
The Fourth Marine Regiment under colonel Samuel L. Howard arrived to the Philippine Islands at the beginning of December 1941, just few days prior the Japanese attack. When the Japanese attack the Bataan, the Fourth marines were already under army command and ordered to the strengthening of defensive installations at Corregidor. Shofner was promoted to the rank of captain on January 5, 1942, and assumed command of the Headquarters company.
While stationed at Fort Mills, Japanese bombers attacked the nearby ammunition dump in March 1942 and Shofner directed the extinguishing of a fire on a building at Middleside, while shells from a nearby burning ammunition dump were exploding and projecting into the area. On March 27, 1942, he succeeded in extinguishing a fire on buildings north of Middleside barracks caused by incendiary bombs, thus saving the entire line of buildings. Again on March 28, 1942, Captain Shofner directed the combating of a fire in an ammunition dump caused by enemy aerial bombardment, and then directed the removal of casualties from a caved-in shelter, all while the island was under shell fire from enemy shore batteries. Shofner was decorated with the Silver Star by the U.S. Army for his actions in March.
Following another Japanese attack on April 15, Shofner organized first aid parties, supervised evacuations of wounded men, and under a heavy enemy artillery barrage, drove the last truckload of wounded men to the hospital. He was then decorated with second Silver Star by the U.S. Army for this efforts.
He took part in the Battle of Corregidor at the beginning of May 1942 and following the surrender of the Corregidor garrison at about 1:30 p.m. on May 6, 1942, he was captured by Japanese on that day.
Captivity and escape
Shofner was transported with the rest of captured Marines and soldiers to the prison camp and spent following eleven months at Bilibid, Cabanatuan and Davao Penal Colony. He and nine other Americans (including William Dyess, Jack Hawkins, and Samuel Grashio) planned an escape, for which they spent two months smuggling food and equipment to a jungle cache. Two Filipinos, who had been sentenced to Davao for murder, were taken into the escape plot to act as guides, and on April 4, 1943, the 12 slipped away from their working parties to begin their escape.