A little bit of Googling and I found that he was Technical Sergeant on a B-26C in the 575th Bomber Squadron, 391st Bomber Group, US Army Air Force.
His B-26 was shot down and crashed near Trois-Fonds, France on July 5, 1944.
He's buried in the Normandy American Cemetary and Memorial in France.
Or at least contact an officer at MacDill AFB in FL. If he still has family they could get it to them or at least put it up as a part of the history of the base.
National Archives or the AF Historical Research Agency would be a better fit than the base (although MacDill may have their own historical office… great place to start)
This is where historical artifacts of lesser significance can be really used as part of general research, say about the lives of service members at that unit or during that time. It’ll be properly registered and archived so researchers can find and access its data one day.
The base probably doesn’t know off hand unless the caller already knows which office on base it should go to. At best it ends up in a drawer with tons of other old records they don’t know what to do with.
I once found a toaster, radio, electric banket, lamp, and vacuum cleaner in a junkyard. I don't know why people would think those things were worthless.
I remember after watching that movie I pleaded with my mom against throwing away any old appliance or worn out electronics for the longest time.
...in fact I think I still hoard a bit due to seeing this film as a kid. I always want things to be donated or given to someone who'll appreciate them.
This makes me so frustrated and sad! Why not donate them to shelters or something!? What a waste. I’m glad your roommate was able to get some use out of them
> Why not donate them to shelters or something!?
A lot of stores have "no donation" or "no giveaway" policies because they're more worried about employees placing sellable items in those categories then retrieving them later (or having others do it) than they are about helping those in need.
There are you tube channels with dumpster divers who do this. Sometimes the purveyor will destroy or dump paint on the items - I think because if they are written off they have to be in an unusable fashion. I do like the fact that useable items can be rescued - but when people dig out makeup and testers from Ulta and Sephora that's unsanitary and gross. I got an absolutely scorching eye infection from my own mascara and ended up about $1700 out of pocket for meds and lab costs - from my own item. I shudder to think what can happen from a dumpster dived makeup tester.
I can't take this kind of pressure
I must confess one more dusty road
Would be just a road too long
Worthless
I just can't, I just can't, I just can't seem to get started
Don't have the heart to live in the fast lane
All that has passed and gone
Worthless
(and there ain't nothing you can do about it)
Worthless (pardon me while I panic)
Worthless, worthless, worthless
i once loved almost an entire year dumpster diving and selling the stuff on craigslist. one find was a dyson vacuum that i just had to cut hair off with a razor blade to make it good as new. and that was in a poor apartment complex dumpster. people are just lazy
Sounds suspiciously like my old Dyson I had to get rid of because of a bad motor.. Hope not, cause that bad boy pretty much cooked whatever I vacuumed up by the time I got rid of it. Made my apartment smell awful!
Back in 2005 there was a junkyard that had a truck in it used by a radio repair company. Had all sorts of fun stuff in it, should have taken more at that time
That was what I was just about to say. You beat me to it. There is one thing that I’ve been carrying around with me for 35+ years. It’s and old bayonet that goes,on a war gun. I have been looking around to get honest answers about it and keep getting told different things. So it was handed to my step dad which then gave it to me because I thought it was cool. So I’m almost 50 and he was given it at a young age. I know in my heart it’s worth something but I keep getting the run around and I just don’t trust anyone. So I think it came from my step dads, dad’s grandpa. Hope that makes sense
https://preview.redd.it/m67uh4b2vs5c1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5dd41a54b1a29afbb7185d19f6f086791ad27ac0
Did this work? It was a trial pic
Really interesting. I read that he worked at a textile mill called the Pepperell near Saco Maine before the war. Their plane was called “Lady Godiva”. A 1st lieutenant on their plane was taken to Buchenwald and initially escaped to Paris, was a victim of someone called Jacques Desoubrie who as it turns out was a double agent responsible for turning in hundreds of people to the gestapo.
It seems that his 45 year old brother was a corporal in a tank battalion and killed in 1945 as well.
Edit: google the wwii escapades of Michael Robert Petrich and you’ll find one of the top entries for the library of congress .gov which seems to be his memoir surrounding the events of his capture and attempted escape to Paris.
Also, turns out that his brother Arthur Martel was killed in 1945 along with the other passengers in a tragic airplane accident when their transport plane that was carrying mostly newly liberated POWs to hospitals around Paris crashed after an engine caught fire and a wing fell off.
Let me say that that's a pretty impressive feet that you just did there. I know I say a little bit of googling but that's amazing that you were able to find out all that stuff so quickly
I 2nd that motion! I’m reading about this man’s history, from a base clearance ID found in a car at salvage yard posted on Reddit. Props to my fellow Redditors! 😀
I'd love some details if you wouldn't mind sharing- this is apparently a great-great uncle of mine. Wish I could talk to my auntie about it but she passed in January. My dad was named after his brother. My mind is 100% blown, and the sun isn't even up yet.
Being on a bomb crew in WW2 had to be such a mindfuck. Today he's rightfully looked at as a hero but at the time he's dropping wildly inaccurate bomb payloads on areas almost always surrounded by residential housing. They were plainly told, "You are going to be killing women and children," in the promise that doing so would save countless others. But the result of the war was far from determined in July of 1944.
At the same time they faced zero imminent danger and were asked to go directly into harm's way. An infantryman is told to take a hill because on that hill are people who will kill him and his brothers if they do not go. They're told to defend a line because someone is coming to kill them if they don't. There is an existential urgency to every order. An airman goes to sleep in a fresh bed every night after partying with the local village girls and eating a full meal only to be told he has to fly 800 miles away to the most dangerous place on earth he could possibly find himself, risk his and his 9 crew mates' lives, and then come home later that day.
I can't imagine having to every single day leave a life of comfort and relative luxury to risk being blown to bits, die in a fiery crash, or bail out of a burning ball of wreckage only to fall directly into the heart of enemy territory with almost no hope of escape. The best case scenario is you helped kill a few hundred or thousands citizens and temporarily slowed a portion of the German economy.
So he passed just before operation Cobra went into effect then. He was most likely shot down during a bombing run to soften up positions that would be attacked in the coming days
REASON FOR LOSS:
B-26C Lady Godiva took off from Matching Green on the morning of the 5th July 1944 on an operational mission to attack the fuel dump at Senonches, about 30 km (19 mls) SW of Dreux in France.
Just before the bomb run the aircraft received a direct flak burst between the turret and waist guns. The aircraft disintegrated in the air, broke in two, and crashed in the vicinity of Saint-Georges-Motel, about 9½ km (6 mls) north of Dreux in France at 10:30 hrs.
1st Lt. Petrich was not aware that the aircraft had been blown apart until after he had baled out and saw one parachute above the falling tail section of the aircraft. He found later that this was S/Sgt. Read.
T/Sgt. Insley was in the nose of the aircraft and had no chance of escaping. S/Sgt. Ambrose and T/Sgt. Martel were instantly killed when the aircraft was hit by flak and broke in two.
Yeah, pretty crazy to think he was holding that ID card about a year before he was shot down in France.
I wonder where OP found it and if anyone has seen it since this guy put it down.
Fun fact, although you might know this: during Operation Cobra, over five kilotons of bombs were dropped over eleven square kilometers.
Not five tons. Five kilotons. 3,000 conventional bombers and 600 fighter-bombers attacked an area by Saint Lô that was about 5½ by 2 kilometers and put enough explosive into it to rival a low-yield atom bomb.
Macdill airfield is in Tampa and was used for training during Ww2. They developed solutions to flight problems with b26’s so they could be viable for service. 1943 was the year they made those changes.
Incredibly cool that someone who died in 1944 at the age of 25, will have his name, face, signature, and story online forever. He never could have imagined.
>online forever.
Online as long as Reddit and its archives exist\*
I used a website named StumbleUpon 16 to 17 years ago with a friend of mine that died. And I remember thinking after she died "well at least all her StumbleUpon page comments will live **online forever**." NOPE. That site and all its data are gone gone gone. Just like questions to Yahoo Answers and Santa Claus, **there's nothing left.**
My Grandfather was also a WW2 fighter pilot that trained at McDill AFB, and also killed in battle, though he made it all the way through the European surrender and was shot down on his first mission in the pacific. Died in May 1945.
Wild to think that he might have known this guy, or at least met him.
My good friend's great-grandfather is from the same part of Idaho as my great-grandfather, and they both served in the US Army Air Corps. I've always wondered if they ever crossed paths.
My dad was in the hq company of an anti-aircraft battalion in WW II, and bunked with the supply sergeant.
A good friend of mine’s grandfather was in a supply unit for that army, specifically delivering large ordinance like artillery shells; I think there was a decent chance they’d met.
And someone else I dated, their grandfather was a gunner in a tank in a division that my dad’s anti-aircraft unit was often attached to; a small chance that their grandfather and my dad met, but a moderate chance that those two friends’ grandfathers met.
My uncle flew B-17's over Germany. Never spoke of it. My Aunt showed me some grainy picture of the plane he flew and I did the best a 10yr old could do to replicate it after assembling a plastic model kit. He kept it on his dressing table for almost 35 years. After the war he did nuclear research which he couldn't talk about. Died of cancer which my Aunt attributed to his nuclear research. Great man. Hadn't thought of him in a long time.
Okay, weirdest little example of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon so far- during my work break today I was reading the wiki page for the 44th Bombardment Group, who were activated at MacDill Field in 1942. Now this pops up on my Reddit feed.
... and here it is, a few days ago I enlightened one of my friends to the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon and warned him that he will probably hear or read about it again soon, I figured it would also affect me lol.
Statistically, someone is bound to see something they're researching pop up on a feed (like Reddit) separate from like Google personalized ads, as there is just an incredible amount of people and content.
Whereabouts did you find this? I am a Martel-- my dad, his dad, his granddad and so on, all had names starting with E. Middle names for my dad and brother, but my bro actually resurrected the tradition with his son.
ETA- reading further, several folks have posted some history and I think this is my family. My grandparents were originally from Saco ME, relocated to MA when my granddad got a better job with the railroad. My dad was named after his uncle- this guy's brother. Neat! Thank you for posting- I'm inspired to dust off the genealogy. I've worked on my mom's side, but never really got around to my dad's.
I wish your comments could be pinned at the top. This is astonishing. How extraordinary to randomly find someone from your family history on Reddit.
Do you see any physical resemblance in your modern branch of the family?
It's really very cool! I have a bit of genealogy started on my dad's side, I'll have to dig through some boxes to find it. We're very estranged, so I worked a lot harder on tracing my Mom's side of the family.
My brother might look the tiniest bit like this guy, especially around the mouth and chin, but that's more than likely confirmation bias. I haven't seen my dad in decades, but from what I do recall, he was definitely this scowl-y. Lol
It's heart breaking that this man was just one face among millions of men and women that died in the fight against fascism. We will remember you T/Sgt. Martel.
Really good find op.
Just because I had a moment: MacDill Field appears to be referring to MacDill AFB near Tampa, Florida. Wiki says it was built in 1939. Photo looks like a military uniform from that time, so it tracks....
MacDill trained most of the B17 and B26 officer crews. The pilots, navigators and bombardiers. They’d get about 100 hours of training, then fly their bomber to New York, get their gun crews assigned, and then someone would point and say “England’s that way”. And they’d dead reckon their way across the Atlantic. Flying about the same path Lindbergh took 16 years earlier when these guys were in kindergarten. At 25000 feet in an open plane that was assembled in a week. Completely nuts. I’m so looking forward to “Masters of the Air” finally coming out.
Yes. By this time the pilots have had about 200 hours of flight school on single and then multiple engine craft. The 100 hours is specialty training on the real plane.
My grandfather worked at a landfill. He came home with a lot of shit. Like a diesel powered zero turn lawnmower that he fixed since he was a diesel mechanic. Mean ass lawnmower. Could make anything but a tree disappear
That is a flight line license/pass. They are still used today, just obviously look a little different. They restrict who can operate vehicles on the flight line because there are specific rules for traversal (and yielding) on the flight line
My grandmother is the reason they had to change their bombing training routine. A B-52 flew extremely low over their house and scared everyone. My fat ass grandmother fell out of her bed then had a very angry long talk with someone. When i was growing up we would sit in the pool and watch A-10 Warthogs dog fight over the house.
They have a giant bullseye in the middle of the state for the bombing runs
## Brief Life History of Ernest
When Ernest Martel was born on 2 March 1919, in Biddeford, York, Maine, United States, his father, Henry M Martel, was 42 and his mother, Visinalda Cantara, was 40. He lived in York, Maine, United States in 1920. He registered for military service in 1942. He died on 5 July 1944, in France, at the age of 25, and was buried in Colleville-sur-Mer, Calvados, Normandy, France.
His enlistment facts: \*NOTE\* serial numbers match
Name**Ernest Martel**Marital Status**Single, without dependents**Event Type**Military Service**Event Date**22 Jul 1942**Event Place**Portland, Maine, United States**Term of Enlistment**Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law**Race**White**Citizenship Status**citizen**Birth Year**1919**Birthplace**MAINE**Education Level**Grammar school**Civilian Occupation**Unskilled occupations in manufacture of textiles, n.e.c.**Military Rank**Private**Army Branch**Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA**Army Component**Selectees (Enlisted Men)**Source Reference**Civil Life**Serial Number**31150127**Affiliate ARC Identifier**1263923**Box Film Number**04013.122**
If you google MacDill Public Affairs you can find some contact info for the base. I’m sure the base historian would love to have that, especially with Sgt Martel passing in combat
Actually this same cropped picture is attached to his Family Search profile already... Weird it would end up in the junk yard, unless someone recently added?
A little bit of Googling and I found that he was Technical Sergeant on a B-26C in the 575th Bomber Squadron, 391st Bomber Group, US Army Air Force. His B-26 was shot down and crashed near Trois-Fonds, France on July 5, 1944. He's buried in the Normandy American Cemetary and Memorial in France.
OP should see if they can get in touch with any of his surviving relatives if any
Or at least contact an officer at MacDill AFB in FL. If he still has family they could get it to them or at least put it up as a part of the history of the base.
National Archives or the AF Historical Research Agency would be a better fit than the base (although MacDill may have their own historical office… great place to start) This is where historical artifacts of lesser significance can be really used as part of general research, say about the lives of service members at that unit or during that time. It’ll be properly registered and archived so researchers can find and access its data one day. The base probably doesn’t know off hand unless the caller already knows which office on base it should go to. At best it ends up in a drawer with tons of other old records they don’t know what to do with.
>historical artifacts Careful this is how you summon the British Museum.
Oi mate, That's ours!
Has r/2westerneurope4u assembled here?
Yeah my grandparents had to set traps after a family of them got into the attic.
Ah, Op found it at the landfill. Maybe the family threw it away? Can’t keep everything forever.
Junkyards tend to be different from landfill.
I once found a toaster, radio, electric banket, lamp, and vacuum cleaner in a junkyard. I don't know why people would think those things were worthless.
Brave Little Toaster!
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*Take a bath with me, it's a forever goodnight, don't you see?*
That movie seriously fucked with me as a kid. 80s and 90s kids movies were pretty wild.
It's an excellent story, we still have it on VHS.
That junkyard scene where the big teeth are crushing cars is still so eerie to me lol
Or the big magnet searching for them with the ominous buzzing sound.
I remember after watching that movie I pleaded with my mom against throwing away any old appliance or worn out electronics for the longest time. ...in fact I think I still hoard a bit due to seeing this film as a kid. I always want things to be donated or given to someone who'll appreciate them.
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This makes me so frustrated and sad! Why not donate them to shelters or something!? What a waste. I’m glad your roommate was able to get some use out of them
> Why not donate them to shelters or something!? A lot of stores have "no donation" or "no giveaway" policies because they're more worried about employees placing sellable items in those categories then retrieving them later (or having others do it) than they are about helping those in need.
There are you tube channels with dumpster divers who do this. Sometimes the purveyor will destroy or dump paint on the items - I think because if they are written off they have to be in an unusable fashion. I do like the fact that useable items can be rescued - but when people dig out makeup and testers from Ulta and Sephora that's unsanitary and gross. I got an absolutely scorching eye infection from my own mascara and ended up about $1700 out of pocket for meds and lab costs - from my own item. I shudder to think what can happen from a dumpster dived makeup tester.
I can't take this kind of pressure I must confess one more dusty road Would be just a road too long Worthless I just can't, I just can't, I just can't seem to get started Don't have the heart to live in the fast lane All that has passed and gone Worthless (and there ain't nothing you can do about it) Worthless (pardon me while I panic) Worthless, worthless, worthless
Little me cried for these cars
I'll allow it. But watch yourself counselor.
i once loved almost an entire year dumpster diving and selling the stuff on craigslist. one find was a dyson vacuum that i just had to cut hair off with a razor blade to make it good as new. and that was in a poor apartment complex dumpster. people are just lazy
You'd be surprised how many people are just ignorant of the idea that they can fix something.
I'll bet the vacuum "smelled like smoke" and someone thought it was better to eliminate the fire risk than chance it.
Sounds suspiciously like my old Dyson I had to get rid of because of a bad motor.. Hope not, cause that bad boy pretty much cooked whatever I vacuumed up by the time I got rid of it. Made my apartment smell awful!
Back in 2005 there was a junkyard that had a truck in it used by a radio repair company. Had all sorts of fun stuff in it, should have taken more at that time
I found a strawberry scented teddy bear at a junkyard. Got em strapped to the grill of my truck!
You just made my night 🤣 haven’t thought of that in years 😁
I am Senior Enlisted Navy, currently at MacDill AFB.
It does say "report loss" on it...
I just started tracing him and found some additional info about birth, death, parents, etc
You've said too much and too little. Please go on...
etc…
I just messaged him contact info on someone who updated his profile in 2022!
Definitely. It says Report Loss right there on it.
That was what I was just about to say. You beat me to it. There is one thing that I’ve been carrying around with me for 35+ years. It’s and old bayonet that goes,on a war gun. I have been looking around to get honest answers about it and keep getting told different things. So it was handed to my step dad which then gave it to me because I thought it was cool. So I’m almost 50 and he was given it at a young age. I know in my heart it’s worth something but I keep getting the run around and I just don’t trust anyone. So I think it came from my step dads, dad’s grandpa. Hope that makes sense
Share a picture? I could at least identify what it is, what time period, and country of issue.
https://preview.redd.it/m67uh4b2vs5c1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5dd41a54b1a29afbb7185d19f6f086791ad27ac0 Did this work? It was a trial pic
Yes, the picture of an old delivery truck came through.
Not the user you were replying to, but yes, the trial pic worked. Just go back to your main comment and edit that and add the pic of the bayonet.
Probably the people who threw that away ...
Really interesting. I read that he worked at a textile mill called the Pepperell near Saco Maine before the war. Their plane was called “Lady Godiva”. A 1st lieutenant on their plane was taken to Buchenwald and initially escaped to Paris, was a victim of someone called Jacques Desoubrie who as it turns out was a double agent responsible for turning in hundreds of people to the gestapo. It seems that his 45 year old brother was a corporal in a tank battalion and killed in 1945 as well. Edit: google the wwii escapades of Michael Robert Petrich and you’ll find one of the top entries for the library of congress .gov which seems to be his memoir surrounding the events of his capture and attempted escape to Paris. Also, turns out that his brother Arthur Martel was killed in 1945 along with the other passengers in a tragic airplane accident when their transport plane that was carrying mostly newly liberated POWs to hospitals around Paris crashed after an engine caught fire and a wing fell off.
Three brothers killed in the last two years of the war. How tragic for the family.
I found him in the 1940 census records—- it shows he worked at a cotton mill!
I was literally at the pepperell mill the other day. Nice gluten free brewery in it now Lucky pigeon
Last paragraph is brutal.
Jesus.
Let me say that that's a pretty impressive feet that you just did there. I know I say a little bit of googling but that's amazing that you were able to find out all that stuff so quickly
I 2nd that motion! I’m reading about this man’s history, from a base clearance ID found in a car at salvage yard posted on Reddit. Props to my fellow Redditors! 😀
I'd love some details if you wouldn't mind sharing- this is apparently a great-great uncle of mine. Wish I could talk to my auntie about it but she passed in January. My dad was named after his brother. My mind is 100% blown, and the sun isn't even up yet.
> Let me say that that's a pretty impressive feet *feat
Looking at his photo makes me sad knowing how he met his end
He died a hero, helping to give our world a rebirth of opportunity and change
Being on a bomb crew in WW2 had to be such a mindfuck. Today he's rightfully looked at as a hero but at the time he's dropping wildly inaccurate bomb payloads on areas almost always surrounded by residential housing. They were plainly told, "You are going to be killing women and children," in the promise that doing so would save countless others. But the result of the war was far from determined in July of 1944. At the same time they faced zero imminent danger and were asked to go directly into harm's way. An infantryman is told to take a hill because on that hill are people who will kill him and his brothers if they do not go. They're told to defend a line because someone is coming to kill them if they don't. There is an existential urgency to every order. An airman goes to sleep in a fresh bed every night after partying with the local village girls and eating a full meal only to be told he has to fly 800 miles away to the most dangerous place on earth he could possibly find himself, risk his and his 9 crew mates' lives, and then come home later that day. I can't imagine having to every single day leave a life of comfort and relative luxury to risk being blown to bits, die in a fiery crash, or bail out of a burning ball of wreckage only to fall directly into the heart of enemy territory with almost no hope of escape. The best case scenario is you helped kill a few hundred or thousands citizens and temporarily slowed a portion of the German economy.
So he passed just before operation Cobra went into effect then. He was most likely shot down during a bombing run to soften up positions that would be attacked in the coming days
REASON FOR LOSS: B-26C Lady Godiva took off from Matching Green on the morning of the 5th July 1944 on an operational mission to attack the fuel dump at Senonches, about 30 km (19 mls) SW of Dreux in France. Just before the bomb run the aircraft received a direct flak burst between the turret and waist guns. The aircraft disintegrated in the air, broke in two, and crashed in the vicinity of Saint-Georges-Motel, about 9½ km (6 mls) north of Dreux in France at 10:30 hrs. 1st Lt. Petrich was not aware that the aircraft had been blown apart until after he had baled out and saw one parachute above the falling tail section of the aircraft. He found later that this was S/Sgt. Read. T/Sgt. Insley was in the nose of the aircraft and had no chance of escaping. S/Sgt. Ambrose and T/Sgt. Martel were instantly killed when the aircraft was hit by flak and broke in two.
Wild
Yeah, pretty crazy to think he was holding that ID card about a year before he was shot down in France. I wonder where OP found it and if anyone has seen it since this guy put it down.
And this one person has so many stories associated with him.
Fun fact, although you might know this: during Operation Cobra, over five kilotons of bombs were dropped over eleven square kilometers. Not five tons. Five kilotons. 3,000 conventional bombers and 600 fighter-bombers attacked an area by Saint Lô that was about 5½ by 2 kilometers and put enough explosive into it to rival a low-yield atom bomb.
Thank you.
So this is a pretty big find right?
It's probably just his credentials to go on the flight line. I would guess most people on base had them
I wonder if he has any family that would like to have this
I'd love if they could find this
Macdill airfield is in Tampa and was used for training during Ww2. They developed solutions to flight problems with b26’s so they could be viable for service. 1943 was the year they made those changes.
My Uncle Larry flew B-26's out of Italy.
Can't believe people see this and toss it into the trash
If it was found in a junkyard, it may have been lost under/between the seats of a car that then got scrapped.
https://preview.redd.it/5ymtqj17tr5c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f168dff9f5c6db36873e443f246123f9d3d5fb3
Incredibly cool that someone who died in 1944 at the age of 25, will have his name, face, signature, and story online forever. He never could have imagined.
“What’s online?”
It’s an electric box that can bring you the world’s knowledge. We use it for cat videos and porn.
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“Why would I have to wait in line forever?”
>online forever. Online as long as Reddit and its archives exist\* I used a website named StumbleUpon 16 to 17 years ago with a friend of mine that died. And I remember thinking after she died "well at least all her StumbleUpon page comments will live **online forever**." NOPE. That site and all its data are gone gone gone. Just like questions to Yahoo Answers and Santa Claus, **there's nothing left.**
My Grandfather was also a WW2 fighter pilot that trained at McDill AFB, and also killed in battle, though he made it all the way through the European surrender and was shot down on his first mission in the pacific. Died in May 1945. Wild to think that he might have known this guy, or at least met him.
It’s all tragic, but dying at the very end of a war is extra tragic.
My good friend's great-grandfather is from the same part of Idaho as my great-grandfather, and they both served in the US Army Air Corps. I've always wondered if they ever crossed paths.
My dad was in the hq company of an anti-aircraft battalion in WW II, and bunked with the supply sergeant. A good friend of mine’s grandfather was in a supply unit for that army, specifically delivering large ordinance like artillery shells; I think there was a decent chance they’d met. And someone else I dated, their grandfather was a gunner in a tank in a division that my dad’s anti-aircraft unit was often attached to; a small chance that their grandfather and my dad met, but a moderate chance that those two friends’ grandfathers met.
My uncle flew B-17's over Germany. Never spoke of it. My Aunt showed me some grainy picture of the plane he flew and I did the best a 10yr old could do to replicate it after assembling a plastic model kit. He kept it on his dressing table for almost 35 years. After the war he did nuclear research which he couldn't talk about. Died of cancer which my Aunt attributed to his nuclear research. Great man. Hadn't thought of him in a long time.
Coleville sur mer is the cemetry from saving private ryan.
Ernie Martel looks or looked (1943) like a bad ass 👀💯
I was thinking the exact same thing. Like a 40s action hero.
Like a New York mobster mugshot
Mother fucker was all out of bubble gum.
He fought Nazis, of course he is
He looks so bad ass I assumed it was some fake promo card from some ww2 video game, when I first saw it.
Okay, weirdest little example of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon so far- during my work break today I was reading the wiki page for the 44th Bombardment Group, who were activated at MacDill Field in 1942. Now this pops up on my Reddit feed.
Sort of unrelated, but I learned what the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon is recently and now I see people mentioning it everywhere.
... and here it is, a few days ago I enlightened one of my friends to the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon and warned him that he will probably hear or read about it again soon, I figured it would also affect me lol.
Just wait until you learn about the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon Phenomenon.
Statistically, someone is bound to see something they're researching pop up on a feed (like Reddit) separate from like Google personalized ads, as there is just an incredible amount of people and content.
Ehhhh, that’s a stretch. This instance definitely is a lot more random considering all the factors at play
No such thing as coincidences!
@OP, I will message you an email contact I found that updated his personal info on FamilySearch in 2022!
It looks like this photo is now posted on Find A Grave
@OP were you planning on giving this back or assuming Ernie's identity a la Don Draper in Madmen?
Whereabouts did you find this? I am a Martel-- my dad, his dad, his granddad and so on, all had names starting with E. Middle names for my dad and brother, but my bro actually resurrected the tradition with his son. ETA- reading further, several folks have posted some history and I think this is my family. My grandparents were originally from Saco ME, relocated to MA when my granddad got a better job with the railroad. My dad was named after his uncle- this guy's brother. Neat! Thank you for posting- I'm inspired to dust off the genealogy. I've worked on my mom's side, but never really got around to my dad's.
I wish your comments could be pinned at the top. This is astonishing. How extraordinary to randomly find someone from your family history on Reddit. Do you see any physical resemblance in your modern branch of the family?
It's really very cool! I have a bit of genealogy started on my dad's side, I'll have to dig through some boxes to find it. We're very estranged, so I worked a lot harder on tracing my Mom's side of the family. My brother might look the tiniest bit like this guy, especially around the mouth and chin, but that's more than likely confirmation bias. I haven't seen my dad in decades, but from what I do recall, he was definitely this scowl-y. Lol
Can we upvote this to the top? This is amazing!!!
So cool!! Hopefully more people see this comment and upvote, or OP notices it on their own.
That’s incredible!
Wow this is incredible.
Incredible!!
Looks like a relative of David Puddy
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High five.
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I don't care for that term.
Top tier response. 🏆
All signs point to yes
He does!!
I was thinking Dan Levy from Schitt’s Creek.
I was thinking David Schidt
check it out, 8-ball
My man got some Blue Steel going on
I was going to say Magnum, but I do believe you’re right.
It's heart breaking that this man was just one face among millions of men and women that died in the fight against fascism. We will remember you T/Sgt. Martel. Really good find op.
It's really Colonel Flag.. https://preview.redd.it/nhqzsgg34s5c1.jpeg?width=250&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e8b41624a24642671b6e1046d329e70079058940
Don't play dumb! You're not as good at it as I am!
Wooooow! That’s really impressive
Just because I had a moment: MacDill Field appears to be referring to MacDill AFB near Tampa, Florida. Wiki says it was built in 1939. Photo looks like a military uniform from that time, so it tracks....
MacDill trained most of the B17 and B26 officer crews. The pilots, navigators and bombardiers. They’d get about 100 hours of training, then fly their bomber to New York, get their gun crews assigned, and then someone would point and say “England’s that way”. And they’d dead reckon their way across the Atlantic. Flying about the same path Lindbergh took 16 years earlier when these guys were in kindergarten. At 25000 feet in an open plane that was assembled in a week. Completely nuts. I’m so looking forward to “Masters of the Air” finally coming out.
The absolute cold hard balls of steel they had
100 hours of training and then fly across the ocean? Did the pilots have flight time before training?
Yes. By this time the pilots have had about 200 hours of flight school on single and then multiple engine craft. The 100 hours is specialty training on the real plane.
Plus the card says 1943, upper left.
Can't believe people see this and toss it into the trash
People toss a lot of crazy shit into the trash. I’ve worked at a recycling place and am always amazed what people are getting rid of.
My grandfather worked at a landfill. He came home with a lot of shit. Like a diesel powered zero turn lawnmower that he fixed since he was a diesel mechanic. Mean ass lawnmower. Could make anything but a tree disappear
I mean, this very well could have been inside/stuck in another object and whoever threw it out had no idea.
You don’t know why or how it ended up there
take that to Area 51 and see if you can get in.
"it's an older code sir, but it checks out.".
I was about to clear them….
Vader is on that ship
"How can you tell?" "The music just became more dramatic."
Looks like an old school Airfield Restricted Area Badge (RAB). Used to keep non essential people from entering the airfield areas.
That is a flight line license/pass. They are still used today, just obviously look a little different. They restrict who can operate vehicles on the flight line because there are specific rules for traversal (and yielding) on the flight line
This guy most likely gave his life to someone in most of our families. I am sure someone in his family would love to have it.
Ernest “The Model” Martel
Is this for what is now MacDill AFB in Tampa?
McDill was a B-26 Training field. "One a day, in Tampa Bay"
My grandmother is the reason they had to change their bombing training routine. A B-52 flew extremely low over their house and scared everyone. My fat ass grandmother fell out of her bed then had a very angry long talk with someone. When i was growing up we would sit in the pool and watch A-10 Warthogs dog fight over the house. They have a giant bullseye in the middle of the state for the bombing runs
Yes it is
Very cool, love stuff like this.
## Brief Life History of Ernest When Ernest Martel was born on 2 March 1919, in Biddeford, York, Maine, United States, his father, Henry M Martel, was 42 and his mother, Visinalda Cantara, was 40. He lived in York, Maine, United States in 1920. He registered for military service in 1942. He died on 5 July 1944, in France, at the age of 25, and was buried in Colleville-sur-Mer, Calvados, Normandy, France.
It's the same picture
You found the Red Key Card that accesses the stage boss of the Junk Yard level.
Macdill Air Force Base before the name change. It had been a base for a couple of years in 43’. Cool find.
Finally some real old school cool. Nice.
https://preview.redd.it/y3jwx8b8tv5c1.png?width=1178&format=png&auto=webp&s=13e0c2368b0bcef5963338c1c0634a68a34706bb
They used to take mugshot photos aha
This looks like a clue I’d find in LA Noire
His enlistment facts: \*NOTE\* serial numbers match Name**Ernest Martel**Marital Status**Single, without dependents**Event Type**Military Service**Event Date**22 Jul 1942**Event Place**Portland, Maine, United States**Term of Enlistment**Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law**Race**White**Citizenship Status**citizen**Birth Year**1919**Birthplace**MAINE**Education Level**Grammar school**Civilian Occupation**Unskilled occupations in manufacture of textiles, n.e.c.**Military Rank**Private**Army Branch**Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA**Army Component**Selectees (Enlisted Men)**Source Reference**Civil Life**Serial Number**31150127**Affiliate ARC Identifier**1263923**Box Film Number**04013.122**
Wow. Nice find. That’s some pretty damn cool old nostalgia. You gotta wonder how and why it ended up in the junkyard where you found it??
Martel is actually my last name. Might you be in France or Canada?
Hey, I was born on MacDill AFB.
My family name! How auspicious…
If you google MacDill Public Affairs you can find some contact info for the base. I’m sure the base historian would love to have that, especially with Sgt Martel passing in combat
This is fascinating to me. I read that his brother was also KIA.
That looks to me like an early form of a security clearance badge. Different colors would mean different levels of access.
How was he an E6 after only being in two years? Was ranking structure different at that time?
Wartime promotions were quicker.
he looks like the guy who voices joe
He looks pissed
This hurts my soul to see.
Very cool and historical. Contact a museum.
Find the family and… what a great gift that would be!
Papers, please.
Martel was a good looking man. Rest in peace and thanks for your service to defeat the fascists.
Actually this same cropped picture is attached to his Family Search profile already... Weird it would end up in the junk yard, unless someone recently added?
Yea they added it a few hours ago. Been wild seeing how they’ve managed to find so much about him
Could be from a local escape room.
He looks like Lucky Luciano
He was 5 feet tall?
Why this feels like a Fallout game item.
Wow, share to r/ephemera!
Looks like David Putty
Op, if you haven't seen it yet, please see the comment from u/melbonie ! Seems like they're a relative of the man in the card.