John E. Martin III (1920-1945)

Jack Martin was born in Philadelphia in 1920 and grew up in nearby Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Camp Hill High School in 1938 after three years of varsity football and editing the first yearbook in the high school's history. He entered Dickinson College in nearby Carlisle and continued his football career as a half-back. He also followed his father, John E. Martin, class of 1917 and a veteran of the First World War, in joining Beta Theta Pi.

He finished the requirements for the degree in 1943 and was already a United States Marine when diplomas were awarded. The Dickinson Alumnus of September 1945 stated that Martin may have been the first graduate never to see his diploma since he was not able to obtain a home leave before shipping to the Pacific.

Martin joined Company H, 3rd Battalion, 29th Regiment, 6th Marine Division in the invasion of Okinawa. On May 15, 1944, during the bloody battle for the island's main town of Naha at a place called Sugar Loaf Hill, Corporal John Martin was killed in action. He was buried on Okinawa in the Marine cemetery, becoming one of more than 12,500 Americans (including three Dickinsonians) lost in securing what was intended to be the main staging area for the final invasion of the Japanese home islands.

More information about other Dickinson war casualties can be found through the online project "In Remembrance" (see link for related entries below).