Michael Paul Austin
First Lieutenant
B CO, 299TH ENG BN, 937TH ENG GROUP, 18TH ENG BDE, USARV ENG CMD, USARV
Army of the United States
Belchertown, Massachusetts
April 19, 1948 to February 02, 1971
MICHAEL P AUSTIN is on the Wall at Panel W5, Line 73

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Michael P Austin
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26 Nov 2001

"To live in the hearts we leave behind,
is never to have died."
(Thomas Campbell, circa 1888)

From his cousin,
Paul F. Austin
11844 S. Stallion Dr, Pine, Co. 80470
ozzie@bwn.net

 
31 Jan 2003

I was there February 2, 1971, when Lieutenant Austin and Specialist 4 Darrel Cowan were killed in action on highway QL21 in Khanh Hoa, about 150 miles from Ban Me Thuot. I came up from the south on QL21; had been there only a short time. Stopped to give my men a break. When the enemy fired from ambush upon the work detail that was there to repair the bridge. With all the firing going on Lieutenant Austin along with Specialist Cowan, his machine gunner, were in a jeep. The jeep stopped: no one knows why. Some say the jeep just stopped. When a NVA soldier fired a B40 rocket into the jeep, taking the lives of both men. I would like to say Lieutenant Austin was a fine young man who stood upright in the eyes of all who knew him. Never asking no one to do anything he was not able or willing to do himself. I knew him, I worked with and around him, and I would like to say I remember. Rest in peace, my friend. You are not forgotten.

From a comrade in arms,
Billy Huddleston
oklapushrod@earthlink.net


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