American Valor Quarterly Issue 12 - Spring 2015 | Page 31

An Honor & Privilege Serve to From Jim “Pee Wee” Martin Private First Class Jim “Pee Wee” Martin was part of the Army’s famed 101st Airborne Division that parachuted near Utah Beach the night before what came to be known as D-Day. His 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment saw front line action in some of the most pivotal campaigns during WWII. After fighting valiantly to prevent German reinforcements from entering Utah Beach on D-Day, Martin’s unit then saw heavy action in Operation Market Garden and in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, before continuing on to Berlin, the final stand for Nazi Germany. Martin made headlines again in 2014 when he decided to make the jump near Utah Beach again, 70 years later, at the age of 93. As of this date, Martin is the last American paratrooper to make a jump into Normandy. National World War II Museum B And we must remember that we went over there not just to help the British and French, but with Australia, Canada, Russia, Poland; all of these allies working together to get rid of a tyrant in the world. I was born in rural Pennsylvania on April 29th, 1921. My father took a job as head of maintenance in the mines. It was a Slavic community at that time and the only woman in town who spoke English was my mother. After one of the mines caved in and a man got killed we moved to Indiana where my mother was from. We stayed there until I was about 10. My Dad was working for the United Aircraft Company when we moved to Dayton, where we stayed until I joined the Army. I grew up listening to veterans of WWI and hearing about what they went through in the trenches. After that war, our country became very isolated. Most people didn’t want anything to do with war anymore and I felt the same way. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, it didn’t really touch me at all and none of the people around me seemed to think too much of it either. We all seemed to think, “To hell with those people over there. They can’t bother us.” That was generally the way most people felt. I was working in the defense industry and we started making war materials. We had the tool end, which I was in, and we had the manufacturing end, with about 350 people. Nothing seemed to bother me about the war, until they efore I begin sharing my story, I feel I should mention that I often have to correct people when they thank me for my sacrifice. I volunteered and trained for my service. I also got paid for it. That doesn’t make me a hero and I don’t consider any part of what I did a sacrifice. I consider it an honor and privilege to be involved in a critical part of history. I’ve gained far more by going in and doing what we did than I ever would have accomplished doing anything else. It’s more satisfactory than if I got rich. When you live in a country like this, it’s your obligation to go when you’re called. So you can’t say it’s a sacrifice. SPRING 2015 31