Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1971 Lucky Bag:

MICHAEL R. MARTIN

Arriving from the Nebraska Heartland, Mike brought with him all the open friendliness of the West. Alert, involved, inherently honest, sometimes pensive, and capable of enormous indignation, Mike commanded respect and admiration. Mike’s capacity to be intensely alive, his natural interest, and his lasting dedication assume him of a life both relevant and rewarding.

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Mike’s middle name was Reed.

Loss

Michael was lost on October 13, 1979 when his RF-8G Crusader crashed near San Francisco. He was in a member of VFP-63 Det 2¹, aboard USS Coral Sea (CV 43). Contemporary newspaper accounts state “a shredded life raft and a piece of the tail from the RF-8 Crusader jet” were recovered, but not the pilot, and that the cause of the accident was under investigation.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Michael was a member of a photographic squadron at Miramar Naval Air Station and was assigned to the air wing of USS Coral Sea. The single-seat RF-8 jet went down after performing maneuvers for relatives of the ship’s crew on “Dependents Day.” He was flying over the speed of sound, at least 750 mph, at about 300 feet above the water. On this low-level, high-speed leg of his run, he crashed 20 miles west of Half Moon Bay. His body was not recovered.

Michael’s family also had lived in Sioux City and Woodbury, Iowa. His father was Russel Reed Martin (1917-1980), and his mother was Alberta Henrietta Ewoldt (1918-2000). They were married 12/31/1938 in Missouri, and they are buried in Longmont, Colorado. His brother was Dennis Russell Martin (1950-2001).

Michael’s Find A Grave page is here.

References