Parentw were Andrew Jackson Martin and Mittie Era Childre. He graduated from Buffalo High School in 1938 and attended Sam Houston State Teachers College 3 years. He never married. He entered the Army Air Corps on April 18, 1942. He went overseas in Aug. 1944, and was based with the 15th Air Force in Italy as a pilot of a B-24 Liberator. He was on a combat mission over Germany in Dec. 1944, and encountered hostile aircraft over East Central Germany. In the engagement the bomber sustained damages and was last seen as it fell into a spin and disappeared into the clouds. The number of combats he participated in, or the number of missions he completed is not known. He recieved the the Air Medal and Oak Leaf Cluster and was decorated twice for courage under fire. He was missing in action a year when he was officially Declared dead on Dec. 18, 1945. On July 8,1948, his mother was informed the body of First Lt. Roger A Martin was being returned to the states aboard the ship, Lawrence Victory, which was due any day. The body arrived by train in Wortham, Texas, Thursday, July 22. The family met the train and accompanied the body back to Buffalo where it remained over night in the home of his sister, Mrs Beverly Rhyne. Burial was July 23, 1948. Charles Logston's step father served in the same Bomb group as Roger Martin. They provided additional information for this memorial. First Lieutenant Roger A. Martin, Pilot: 825th Bomb Squadron, 484th Bomb Group, 49th Bomb Wing, 15th Army Air Force, stationed at Toretta Air Field, Italy. On Dec. 17,1944, Lt. Martin perished with his crew on B-24J #38 "Red 38" (42-51835). Bomber #38 was lost to fighter attack with her crew on a mission to Odertal,Germany (present day Zdzieszowice, Poland), on Dec.17,1944 (MACR #10492). Attacked by an ME-109 piloted by Lt. Kraft fron III/JG 300 at about 1205 hrs., bomber #38 crashed near the crossroads leading to Liebau( present day Libinia) and Wenzeldorf(Present day Vaclavov), Czechoslovakia. None of the 11 crew members were able to bail out and all perished within the bomber. Lt. Kraft bailed out after his fighter was hit by one of the waist gunners (Sebelski or Fort). The ME-109 crashed in a garden in Libinia and Lt. Kraft landed uninjured. The crew was buried in a local cemetery in Libina. After the war, the bodies were exhumed and sent to the States or to the US cemetery in Saint-Avold, France, depending on the wishes of the families.