Born on March 3, 1916, and raised in his father’s ancestral home in Bedford County, Tennessee, Austin C. Shofner served as a company commander in the 4th Marine Regiment defending the Philippines after the United States entered World War II in 1941. After the surrender of Corregidor, he spent 11 months in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, then on April 4, 1943, led the first successful escape from a Japanese prison camp. His party of twelve men included soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and two Filipinos. After escaping, Shofner and his men remained in the Philippines for six months, leading Filipino guerrillas against the Japanese, and the Americans in the group later returned to the United States. Their return brought the first news to the United States government and people of the Bataan Death March, in which ten thousand American and Filipino servicemen died at Japanese hands, and of the starvation, torture, and deaths suffered by prisoners in Japanese camps. By the end of the war in 1945, over 40% of prisoners-of-war held by the Japanese had died from torture, starvation, or disease. Because Shofner and his companions brought back stark evidence of these atrocities, the United States and its allies changed strategy, gave the Pacific war the same priority as the war in Europe, and pursued operations directed more quickly toward Japan’s homeland, shortening the war and saving countless thousands of lives. In 1944, Shofner returned to the Pacific Theater and, during the campaign to liberate the Philippines, assisted General of the Armies Douglas MacArthur and his forces. Through reconnaissance behind enemy lines and liaison with guerrilla leaders, he helped rescue over 500 American and Allied prisoners slated for death at the Japanese prison camp at Cabanuatuan. He also commanded Marine battalions in the battles for Pelellu and Okinawa. For his World War II service, he received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Legion of Merit with V for Valor, two Silver Stars, the Bronze Star with V, two Purple Hearts, the Chinese Cloud and Banner, and numerous campaign and service medals. In 1959, he retired from the U.S. Marine Corps as a Brigadier General and returned to Bedford County.