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Frederick Leroy Martin Union County Native / World Flyer / Officer United States Army / Perdue University Graduate / Commander of Pearl Harbor Army Air Force 7 December 1941 |
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Frederick Martin at Pearl Harbor
Used by permission of Reminisce Magazine
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Links to information about Frederick Martin and his career Flight around the world 1924 - U.S. Army AviatorsIn 1924, U.S. Army aviators undertook the first round-the-world flight, in four Douglas 'World Cruisers'. They had no thought of setting any speed record, nor of beating John Mears' 1913 record of 36 days (which he had set on the ground). They merely hoped to travel around the earth by air. They started from Seattle, on a westward course. 171 days laters, 3 of the Douglas planes finished the flight. The airplanes and their crew were:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/186844_worldflight.html Pearl Harbor years Major General Robert B. Landry aide to Martin Photo From the Air Force Story Pearl Harbor After a Quarter of a century refer to V. The so called warnings to Short and Kimmel
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The Martin Family of Union County Indiana Genealogy
Timeline of the life of Frederick Leroy Martin |
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California Death Index, 1940-1997 Record
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Time Magazine March 9 1954
MILESTONE
Died. Major General Frederick Leroy Martin, 71, veteran Army airman who organized and led the first successful around-the-world flight (1924) only to leave the four-plane expedition when his own plane crashed in Alaska; of a heart attack Los Angeles. Chief of Hawaii's Army Air units when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor (1941), he saw more than three fourth of his 231 aircraft destroyed, he was relieved ten days later (with Admiral E. Kimmel, Lieut. General Walter C. Short) and sent back to the US. Neither blamed nor exonerated in ensuing investigation, he held training commands until his retirement in 1944.
HAWAIIAN AIR FORCE
(Under over-all command of General Short)
Commanding General, Maj. Gen.
Frederick L. Martin.
Chief of Staff, Col. James A. Mollison.
Intelligence, Col. Edward W. Raley.
Signal Officer, Lt. Col. Clay I. Hoppough.
Eighteenth Bombardment Wing, Brig. Gen. Jacob H. Rudolph.
Fourteenth Pursuit Wing, Brig. Gen. Howard C. Davidson.
Hickam Field, Col. W. E. Farthing.
Wheeler Field, Col. William J. Flood.
Bellows Field, Lt. Col. Leonard D. Weddington.
Photographs of
courtesy of The University of Washington Libraries Digital Collection and Emily Pepperman
http://content.lib.washington.edu/index.html
Thank you
12-29-1941
(This obit is a compilation of two obits that appeared in the L.A. Times and the New York Times)
Major General Frederick L. Martin, Union County Native Dies
Major General Fredrick L. Martin died Wednesday night, 24 February 1954 in the West Los Angeles Veterans Center Hospital.
Martin was born 26 November 1882 in Harmony Township, Union County Indiana, the son of John C. and Nancy J. (Abernathy) Martin. Martin left the county to attend Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. After graduation he joined the Coast Artillery in 1908. He then joined the Army Air Service in 1916 and his later commands included Chanute Field in Illinois; Kelly and Randolph Fields, San Antonio, Texas; Boiling Field near Washington, D. C., and Hickam Field in Hawaii
Major General Martin flew the command plane Seattle in the historic round the globe flight, accompanied by Sgt. Alva Harvey. The three ton Liberty powered ship crashed in Alaska but the general and his crewman were rescued and the flight continued although Martin did not complete the mission at his own request.
For services that contributed materially to the global war effort, Maj. Gen. Frederick L. Martin, former commanding General of the Army Air Forces, Central Technical Training Command, was presented the Legion of Merit by Lt. Gen. Barton K. Yount, commanding general of the A. A. F. Training Command at Ft. Worth, Texas. This award was presented in August of 1944 when Martin retired after 36 years' service. He also held the Distinguished Service Metal.
The two-star officer leaves his widow, Mrs. Grace Martin and a son, Col John R. Martin, USAF of Baltimore, Maryland.
Private funeral services were held at the Veterans Facility Chapel in Los Angeles. Cremation followed and the ashes were buried in Arlington, Virginia National Cemetery 6 July 1954.