Martin, Alexander G.

Description

Alexander Grant Martin was born on December 16, 1911, in Greenwich, Connecticut, to Edith Stoddard, age 38, and David Martin, age 41. He had three brothers and five sisters. In Rye his family lived at 92 Railroad Avenue “Theodore Fremd” and were members of Christ’s Church.

Grant attended Rye High School, and was employed by Collins & Aikman Corporation in New York City before the war.

When he was 30 years old, Grant enlisted on March 12, 1942 and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He would rise to the rank of staff sergeant and serve with the 28th Infantry “Bloody Bucket” Division.

On December 16,1944 The Ardennes Offensive “Battle of the Bulge” was launched along the entire divisional front by the 5th Panzer Army led by General der Panzertruppe Hasso von Manteuffel.

The 28th, which had sustained heavy casualties in the First Army drive to the Roer, fought doggedly in place using all available personnel and threw off the enemy timetable before withdrawing to Neufchâteau on 22 December for reorganization, as its units had been badly mauled.

Grant Martin, Twice Wounded, Home
“Staff Sergeant Alexander Grant Martin of the 28th Division, Infantry, U, S. Army, has returned to the United States for convalescence following sixteen months active duty overseas. The son of Mr. and Mrs. David Martin, Orchard Avenue, Sgt. Martin was wounded twice. He received the Purple Heart and Oak Leaf Cluster. “Grant,” as he is familiarly known to his friends in Rye, was flown to Mitchell Field, L. I., where members of his family visited him on Washington’s Birthday. He has since been flown to Colorado where he will recuperate from a frozen left foot. He
has recovered from previous wounds made by snipers bullets in both legs. Sgt. Martin attended Rye High School, and was employed in New York City previous to his induction m March, 1942. His initial training was at Camp Livingston, La. He has seen action in various sectors, and it is believed he was with General Patton’s first army on the Belgium front before returning to this country.”
Friday, March 2, 1945 THE RYE CHRONICLE

View National Archives Records

After the war Grant was an active volunteer in the United Fund Drives and the Poningoe Hook & Ladder Company of the Rye Fire Department

Alexander Grant Martin died on April 13, 1997, in San Francisco, California, when he was 85 years old. He was buried in San Bruno, California at Golden Gate National Cemetery.