World War II Honoree

Altus L. Arnold

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

White Bluffs, Washington

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. Inducted into the United States Army Air Corps April 9, 1941 with induction at Sacramento, California. Following his recruit and Military Police training, he was deployed to the Philippine Islands Location: Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations, and based at Clark Airfield, Luzon Island. He served as a Military Policeman, assigned to the 440th Ordnance (Aviation) Company, 19th Bomber Group, V-Bomber Command, an element of the U.S. Far-East Fifth Air Force. His unit participated in the Battle of the Philippines, the conquest of the Philippine Islands by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces. While in retreat to the Bataan Peninsula, he was captured Thursday, April 9, 1942 during the ensuing Bataan Battle. The enemy subjected him to participate in the Bataan Death March, and detained at an unstated Prisoner of War Camp. Sunday, August 20, 1944 he boarded the Japanese ‘Hell Ship’ Shinyo Maru Destination: Japan via Formosa. Reported Missing in Action or buried at sea Thursday, September 7, 1944, when the transport was torpedoed and sunk by the USS Submarine Paddle (SS-263), off the northwest coast of Mindanao Island. In remembrance of the Brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the Tablets of the Missing, memorialized at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial Location: Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippine Islands. In his Memory and Honor, this American Patriot received the following decorations posthumously: Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart. The Distinguished Service Cross was awarded for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force, and the Purple Heart, for his Heroism and ultimate sacrifice.