Sergeant Frank Martin, MM, DCM.

414167
Frank Scott Martin, MM, DCM .
40th Battalion (Machine Gun)
Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Son of Harry and Emily (Davis) Martin,
Dove Brook, Labrador
b. 24 March 1892 Mickles Point, Labrador
d. 1960. Toronto, Ontario
Interred in the New Cemetary, Cartwright.

Enlisted: 3rd August 1914. Age 22
Joined the 40th (MG) Bn. in Halifax, NS.
Arrived in England 28/10/15.
Transferred from 11th Brigade Machine Gun. Base to 5 Brigade on 08/03/16.
Wounded in Action 16/08/16.
Promoted to Corporal in the field 01/11/16.
Admitted to Hospital (Gas poisoning) 23/11/17.
Granted the Military Medal 26/01/18.
Awarded Distinguished Conduct Medal 23/02/18.
Promoted Sergeant 05/10/18.
Discharged 25/05/19.

The Military Medal is awarded to Warrant Officers, non-commissioned officers and men for individual or associated acts of bravery on the recommendation of a Commander-in-Chief in the field.

The Distinguished Conduct Medal is awarded to Warrant Officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, serving in any of the sovereign's military forces, for distinguished conduct in the field. It was thus the second highest award for gallantry in action (after the Victoria Cross) for all army ranks below commissioned officers and was available to navy and air force personnel also for distinguished conduct in the field.

Distinguished Conduct Medal - Citation

414167 Martin M.M., F, Cpl. M.G. Cps. 01/26/18 02/23/18, P2842.

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during an attack. When in command of two machine guns he led his men through a heavy enemy barrage to their objective. Though the whole of one of his teams was put out of action and he himself was wounded, he consolidated his position and held it with the remaining gun until relieved. He set his men an excellent example of courage and determination.

(M.M. London Gazette December 9, 1916; Canada Gazette January 13, 1917, Page 2389.)

 

Frank Martin was working in Halifax, N.S. when Britain declared war on German on August 4th, 1914 and on that day Canada too was automatically at war. Frank had already enlisted the day before, on August 3rd. After completing his training he served with the CEF in Belgium and France for the entire duration of the war.

Sgt. Martin was discharged on May 25th 1919 and returned to Cartwright. He married Winifred Fequet. They had four children: Hazel, Howard, Vera and Vernon. Winnifred died in 1926 following complications of childbirth.

Frank remarried in 1931 to Selina Williams and they had one child, a daughter Columbine.

In 1941 Frank moved with his wife and nine-year-old daughter to Goose Bay to find employment at the Air Base. He was one of the first of the civilian employees from the coast and he and his family lived that first winter in a tent on Henrys point, on the banks of the Hamilton (now Churchill) River. He was the first of the civilian employees of Goose Air base to live on the Hamilton, as the others had built their houses on Otter Creek. In the spring of 1942 the Department of National Defence extended the military reserve all the way to the banks of the river and Frank removed his family to the new settlement at what was to become Happy Valley. The military had moved the civilians out of Otter Creek too and they were then in the process of establishing a settlement on the Hamilton River downstream from Henrys point.

Shortly after moving to Happy Valley Frank suffered a heart attack. It was subsequently learned that his heart had been weakened in the poison gas attack he had suffered in France in 1917. No longer employable at the base, he left Happy Valley and moved his family back to Cartwright and returned to his former occupation of fisherman, the only employment available there. He fished out of Cape North and Long Point until his failing health forced him into medical retirement.

He died in Toronto in 1960 where he was living with his son Howard. His body was returned to Cartwright for burial in the New Cemetary there.