Al Martin

Al Martin July 1945

Photo Collection of Al Martin

Born in Canada, Al enlisted in the Army in 1942 at age 19. After basic training he was sent to the Aleutian Islands for the remainder of the war. His photo collection includes over 150 images from his time in Alaska. Additional photos from after the war can be found in the University of Northern Colorado's Special Collections.

After the war Al earned several college degrees related to foreign languages. He organized large family reunions, completed extensive genealogical research, and was an avid hiker and traveler. Read his full biography below.

Photo Collection of Al Martin

Al Martin's Biography

Albert Joseph Martin
July 11, 1923 – December 4, 2014

Albert Joseph Martin was born July 11, 1923, Lac Baker, New Brunswick, rural French Canada, into a Catholic family of 5 boys and 3 girls. His great grandfather, surname Daigle, on his mother’s side owned a one-mile island on this 5-mile Lake, and the Daigle family was one of the original French settlers of Canada who came over with Commander de Razilly who received a land grant from the king of France. Al’s father, Josephel, was a woodsman and village barber using the basement of the house he built as his barbershop. This was also the location during Prohibition where men of the village would come to obtain bootleg liquor after their haircut. The Royal Mounted Police raided the cellar three times but never found where the liquor was stashed. Because family ties were longer than the arm of the law, Josephel always caught wind way ahead of time that they were coming and would hide everything.

Eventually about 10 bedrooms were added to the family house and some of the rooms were for railroad workers who boarded while working on the rails in the area. Due to the Depression the family first moved to Abitibi but Josephel realized the only work for his sons would be down in the mines so he got help from a priest who fixed the boys birth certificates to be slightly older than they were so they could get into the American Army, or go to work. During WWII, before enlisting, 3 of the oldest brothers worked at a G.E. plant in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, with the oldest sister kept house for them. Her future husband was a friend of theirs, Warren Sweeney. One sister stayed in Canada and got married but eventually came to the U.S. The youngest siblings went with their parents to “Frog Hollow”, in Hartford, Connecticut, a large French Canadian community, and Al joined them there after leaving the junior priesthood seminary.

All of Al’s brothers who saw action in the European theater returned home safely. One brother, Medard, won a bronze star in Patton’s army clearing ordinance from a road under heavy fire in France ’44-‘46; Al’s oldest brother, Edgar, was a Tech Sargent in the “Red Ball Express” which supplied Patton’s 3rd Army in his push thru France into Germany. They transported food, fuel and ammo to the front and returned with dead and wounded Allies and German POW’s. He was also in Nice, France, England and Belgium ’42-’45. Rosaire ’41-‘45 was in the invasion of Sicily and we have a photo of him in Naples, Italy, also in Rome and Oran, Algeria; Lucien was station in Alliance, Nebraska ‘43; Warren Sweeney, brother-in-law, was in England and then in a P.O.W. camp when his plane was shot down over Germany ’43-45. All of Al’s family had dual citizenship and after the war were required to choose one and so all became Americans.

Photo Collection of Al Martin

During WWII Al enlisted November 30, 1942, at age 19, in the Army Air Corp and after basic training was sent to Greeley to University of Northern Colorado, then known as Colorado State College of Education, where the WWII Engineering and Operations School for the Army Air Corp was. (This was also later referred to as the Army Air Forces Western Technical Training Command) during the early 1940’s. From there he was sent to the Aleutian Island chain, Alaska, serving in the 11th Fighter Squadron, being stationed on several of the Islands, including Attu after passing thru Dutch Harbor. Emma Daigle Martin kept a postcard album primarily of WWII era documenting well all the forts and training locations of her sons as they traversed through their military service.

Although he did not see action he had a reputation of doing payroll completely accurately that was highly regarded by the men who were sending money home to their families. A captain got him his Sargent stripes for doing payroll for his squadron. Al was demobilized in December 15, 1944 and ended his service November 9th, 1945, whereupon he obtained his Naturalization Certificate to be an American citizen. During his entire time in the military he was learning English and in Alaska much of this was by correspondence. Al’s decorations were: Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic Pacific Theater Campaign Ribbon & the Victory Medal. I have not confirmed this but have been told that while in the Aleutians twice the entire camp assembled in a large airplane hanger to see President Roosevelt who was changing planes drive by the men in a jeep, and once for Yehudi Menuhin, the famous violinist.

After the war, since Al knew Colorado State College of Education, he decided to go back there to get his B.A. and is one of few who returned there after military training for his college education. He was the president of the International Club on campus. Once during Spring break, Al and one of his college buddies, Tony Yamasaki (who went to CSCE but did not graduate), hitch-hiked from Greeley to San Diego, California, all the way encountering discrimination against Japanese or vice versa and protecting each other since this was right after the war. They remained friends until Tony passed away at age 85. Al also spent the summer session of 1947 studying Spanish in Mexico City.

Al received a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages, August 31, 1949. He was the only one of his brothers and sisters who had more than a 6th grade education, although all his brothers were successful small businessmen on the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S.. Al met and married Helen Eva Johnson who worked in the business office of CSCE. Helen was from Wakefield, Mass., and went to Tufts College (now ‘University’) obtaining a B.S. in Psychology in 1947; She was also the editor of the Tuftonian. They married in the Greeley Congregational Church in July 29, 1949. Al’s first teaching job was in Monte Vista, CO. Al’s time during the war and afterwards in Greeley, especially encountering the Rockies, marks the beginning of his great love of the mountains and lifelong interests in history and poetry.

Subsequently Al obtained a Masters Degree in French in 1953 (Thesis: “Maurice Barres, Critique de la Poesie Contemporaine” USC call number: F54M379, Barres was a French novelist, journalist, political nationalist whose literary works are associated with Symbolism) at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. Al and Helen made their life long home in that state primarily in Pasadena, California. Al and Helen have a daughter, Laurel, who lives in Kansas City, MO, worked in administrative positions at UCLA, California Institute of Technology, and the University of Southern California, and is an artist and musician; and a son Tracy, a writer in the motorcycle and automotive industries, who also works for the TSA in Washington, D.C., and lives with his wife Leslie, and son, Tristan, in Hagerstown, Maryland. Helen Martin was in civil service as a vocational counselor and rose thru the ranks in the California State Department of Rehabilitation, eventually becoming the State’s Governor’s appointee as Assistant Deputy Director for Field Operations for the State. Upon retirement Helen traveled extensively all over the world. She passed away June 14th, 2016 at age 91 in Tempe, Arizona.

Al put on a very large Martin family reunion in the 1980’s where 300 Martin’s from all over the country came to Connecticut to attend. Al was considered to be the family ‘historian and archivist’ and eventually acquired numerous photos and family albums, and along with his own extensive photographing this totals 60 albums with well over 4,000 photographs from the 1800’s to 2013, and over 200 documents. He also completed - before the age of computers - an extensive family history and genealogy after 15 years of labor, travel to Salt Lake City, the state of Louisiana, Canada, the Loire Valley and west coast of France. The UCLA Research Library accepted his small library on the Acadians, which is the most extant on the West Coast.

Al was a member and hike leader of the Sierra Club for 40 years in the San Gabriel Mountains above Pasadena. Al hiked, camped, and did extensive backpacking trips, which included the High Sierras, Mount Whitney, and the Grand Canyon; and also traveled several times across country, camping in national parks with his family. He was also a member of the Pasadena Area Liberal Arts Center and attended and led programs for many years. He and his wife were active in social causes and civil rights.

At Alhambra High School (Alhambra, Calif.) Al taught French and was the Language Department Chair for over thirty years. He headed up the Hiking and French clubs at AHS. Upon a personal recommendation he received permission to do research on the French Acadians and the British at the Huntington Library & Gardens in San Marino, CA. He is also a very good artist, loved visiting art museums and discovered and extensively photographed the Los Angeles murals found all over the city consequently conducting numerous tours for many years of these murals. The Los Angeles Mural Conservancy non-profit has archived his mural photos - for very many of them there is no other record. This, along with his vigorous weekly hiking activity in local mountains was Al’s favorite retirement pastime. He also went on Elder-hostel trips and traveled throughout the entire United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe. Al Martin passed away at 91 yrs. old, in Sunland, California December 4, 2014. He is survived by his son, grandson, and daughter.

This biography was written by Al Martin’s daughter, Laurel Martin, March 22, 2013, Ojai, California, and updated October 31, 2018, Kansas City, Missouri.

Short synopsis of dates:

• Army Air Forces Western Technical Training Command at the College, WWII 1942-43
• Sargent, Army Air Corp, Aleutian Islands 1943-45
• B.A., Colorado State College of Education, 1949 (renamed the University of Northern Colorado)
• Married Helen Eva Johnson, in Greeley, Colorado, 1949
• Masters degree at the University of Southern California 1953, Los Angeles, CA
• Began teaching career 1954
• Hike Leader for the Sierra Club and led Los Angeles mural tours between 1960’s – 1980’s