Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Lake, Austin K. 1951 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net August 15, 2011, 10:59 am Ionia Sentinel Standard, 11 Jun 1951 & 10 Oct 1951 Staff Sergeant Austin K. Lake, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Foster C. Lake of Muir, has been killed in action in the Korean war according to a defense department telegram received Sunday at Muir. There were no other details except that Sgt. Lake was killed on April 12. It is assumed additional details will be forthcoming at a later date. Sgt. Lake comes from a large Muir family of five boys and five girls. He attended Ionia high school before entering the armed services. He was attached to an engineering group in Korea when killed. The telegram was the third such battle casualty in Ionia of the Korean campaign. Had Been In Before Sgt. Lake first enlisted in the air force August 27, 1946 at Selfridge Field near Detroit and trained at San Antonio, Texas, and was sent to the Pacific area in November 1946. He served in Japan from Dec. 6, 1946 being assigned to the 5th air force and later the 71st bombardment squadron at Itami, Japan. He returned to the United States in June 1949 and received his discharge. He re-enlisted September 1949 and was assigned to Camp Wood in Texas until July 22, 1950 for duty in Korea. While home he was married on July 8, 1950 to Florabelle Fisk of Muir. Besides his wife and parents Sgt. lake is survived by four brothers John B., Foster C., Melvin and Lloyd, all of Ionia, and five sisters, Mrs. Pauline Pennington of Ionia, Mrs. Nora Stafford of Augusta, Mrs. Irene Nelson of Crystal, and Jeannette, Betty at home. ---- Muir Man’s Body Home From War The remains of S-Sgt. Austin K. Lake, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Foster Lake of Muir, will arrive in Ionia aboard the Grand Trunk train at 5:07 p.m. Friday, the last leg of the long trip home from the Korean battlefield where he was killed April 12, 1951. Military escorts will accompany the body. As a member of the U.S. Army’s engineering group, he served nearly a year in Korea before his death. Representatives of the Ionia American Legion post and the Hubbardston post of which his father is a member plan to meet the train as an honor guard, according to Phil Hanson, commander of the Ionia post. The body will be removed to the home of his parents near Muir until Friday when it will be removed to North Plains church. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Sunday at the church with interment in North Plains cemetery. A full military funeral will be accorded him. Sgt. Lake attended Ionia high school before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force August 27, 1946, at Selfridge Field. He received his basic training at Lackland A.F. base, San Antonio, Texas, before being sent to the Pacific in November, 1946. He served at Itami A.F. base with a bombardment squadron in Japan for 2 ½ years, returning to this country in June, 1949, for discharge. He resumed his high school career for a few weeks that fall and then re-enlisted in September, 1949. He was stationed at Camp Wood, Texas, until July, 1950, when he received a 22-day furlough. While home on that furlough, he married the former Florabelle Fisk of Muir. He was sent overseas shortly afterward and served in the front lines until his death. Surviving him besides his wife and parents, are four brothers, John B., Foster C., jr., Melvin and Lloyd; and five sisters, Mrs. Pauline Pennington of Ionia, Mrs. Nora Stafford of Augusta, Jeannette and Betty at home and Mrs. Irene Nelson of Crystal. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/l/lake16346nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 3.9 Kb