Flying
Officer John George Martin
Royal
Canadian Air Force
Son
of Charles H. and Florence B. Martin, of Simcoe, Ontario, Canada, age
23, died on 19-Nov-1944 while based at Melsbroek, Holland, on a
mission to bomb a railroad in Wickrath, Germany. F/O Martin had 32
missions completed at the time of his death.
The
following is from 439's Operations Record Book (Form 540): The
Squadron ran into a bit of though luck on the last operation. J.37648
F/O J.G. Martin received a hit by flak and was forced to bale out
but his parachute streamed as explained in the F.541. This cool,
intelligent and conscientious youth was a great loss to the squadron.
He has done 32 operational sorties totalling 33:20 hours and giving
him a total of 429:20 flying hours.
The
following entry is from 439's Operations
Record Book
(Form 541): The
remaining seven aircraft continued and successfully bombed the
railway, diving from 8,000 feet, southwest to northeast. The bombing
was good with hits straddling the railroad and damaging the rails
although no direct hit was scored. The light flak at this point was
terrific, described as coming up in "sheets" from the small
forest to the north of the target and gave the impression of being
automatically controlled. Red Four (J/37648 Johnny Martin) was hit
badly and was seen streaming glycol. Red Three (F/O Jack Roberts)
stayed with him as he attempted to glide to our lines. Losing height
all the time, he then appeared to think it wiser to bail out which he
did at a point about ten miles northeast of Roermind, Holland, at map
reference K.8696. F/O Roberts watched him bail out. His parachute
streamed out but failed to open fully and he fell rapidly towards the
ground landing in a clump of trees. It was very doubtful whether he
survived.
Following
entry is from The
Canadian Virtual War Memorial website courtesy
of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
J/37648
F/O J.G. "Johnny" Martin is
buried at RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL, United Kingdom Grave Reference: Panel
247.
Back
to Index
Copyright
©1998-2016 Michael T. Melnick. All rights reserved
the
unofficial homepage of 
Tiger
Squadron
Book
of Remembrance - Volume I