MSGT Robert G. Martin (WWII)

Remembering MSGT Robert G. Martin (Farmington)

October 16, 1923 - November 30, 1944

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MSGT Robert G. Martin (Service Number 15019842) was born in Farmington, WV on October 16, 1923, the son of George and Mary (Joliff) Martin. George was a coal miner (1930-1950 Censuses), and their family lived on East Run in Farmington with George's widowed mother. Robert was the oldest of seven children- four boys, three girls.

Robert attended Farmington High School, from which he graduated on June 5, 1941 (1945 Lincolneer Yearbook). 

Military Service:

On June 24, 1941, Robert, age 17, enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Fort Hayes in Columbus, Ohio. At the time, he was 5'9" and 154 lbs (Army Enlistment Record).

Robert became a member of the 674th Bomber Squadron, 417th Bomber Group, Light.

On November 30, 1944, Robert was an Engineer on board Douglas A-20G Havoc 43-22228, piloted by 1LT James E. Inglehart. Their plane took off from Pitoe Airstrip, with an intended destination of Halmahera Island (Indonesia), on a bombing and strafing mission. The aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision with another aircraft (43-22154) from their squadron, resulting in both aircraft crashing into the Halmahera Sea, three miles from their launch point. All six servicemembers were killed (MACR 15316). On each aircraft was a West Virginian as an engineer- Robert on the 43-22228, TSGT Peter F. Fizer from Cabell County on the 43-22154.

Legacy and Survivors:

Unfortunately, none of the servicemembers were recovered from the crash, and all are honored on the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial's Tablets of the Missing. 

MSGT Robert G. Martin is honored on the "Marion County Veterans Killed in Action" Memorial at Veterans Square in Fairmont, WV, and at the  West Virginia Veterans Memorial in Charleston, WV. He was posthumously awarded the Air Medal and Purple Heart.

Robert was survived by his parents and paternal grandmother, as well as his six siblings. The youngest of Robert's siblings were merely two and five years-old at the time of his death.

Killed in the Collision:

Sources and More Information:

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