One of the many great quotes attributed to ‘anonymous’ is, “He who is remembered never dies.” William Wallace Haig Martyn is certainly remembered. Bill’s war time experience is recorded for all time, not just in war records, but in books like Sea Flight by Hugh Popham, They Gave Me a Seafire by R. ‘Mike’ Crosley, Royal Navy Aces of World …
Touching History:
The He111 Bill Downed
On April 16, 1940 while 801 and 803 squadrons were providing escort cover for HMS Suffolk, Bill (serving on 801 Squadron) scored his first kill when he helped down a Do 18 flown by Ltn zur See Keil. Two days earlier 801 Skuas from Hatston had carried out raids in the Bergen area and sank transport Brenfels. In preparation for …
Make it Six Campaign Medals:
The Arctic Star
Bill served around the world during the Second World War and received five campaign medals, the 1939-1945 Star with Battle of Britain clasp, Aircrew Europe Star with Atlantic clasp, Africa Star with North Africa 1942-43 clasp, Burma Star with Pacific clasp and the Italy Star. The maximum number of Campaign Stars any one person can receive is six. It should …
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To be, or not to be: Bill’s Battle of Britain clasp
In 2013 I visited the Battle of Britain memorial on the Thames in London. Excitedly I looked for my grandfathers name, but never found it. I wondered if they had mixed up his four names and looked for him under different surnames. But no. I looked online, everywhere that has lists of names of those that are among ‘the few’, …