Wendell Martin Killed in Crash, Bring Body Here

Funeral services will be held Monday for Sgt. Wendell J. Martin, Waltonville soldier who was killed in an automobile accident last Sunday in Oxnard, California.

The body will arrive in Mt. Vernon Sunday by train and will remain at Myers Chapel, where friends may call until the funeral hour. Funeral services will be held Monday at 2:00 p.m. at the Methodist church in Waltonville, with the Rev. G. A. Phelps officiating, and burial will be in Knob Prairie cemetery.

Sgt. Martin was 25 years, eight months and 24 days of age. At the time of his death he was stationed at Port Hueneme, Calif. with Battery C of the 1st Guided Missile Regiment. A veteran of World War II, he served for two years with the 739th Bomb Squadron, 454th Bomb group. He was shot down over Germany and was a prisoner of war for nine months. He received his honorable discharge from the Army in 1945 and re-enlisted for three years in 1949.

Sgt. Martin was born December 9, 1924 in Waltonville, the son of Merle and Myrle Irene (Isom) Martin.

In 1945 he was married, in Morganfield, Ky., to Nadine Johnson, who survives.

Besides his wife, he is survived by a son, Wendell Ray Martin: his father and stepmother, Mr. and Mrs. Merle Martin of Waltonville; a brother, Bobby Ray Martin of Mt. Vernon; and two stepbrothers, Max Hodge of Mt. Vernon and Larry Kent Hodge of Waltonville.

Source: The Register News
Date: Unknown
Submitted by: Cindy Ford