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2nd Lt. Bertram C. Martin MM.
British Army 4th Btn. Royal Fusiliers
from:Woodston, Peterborough
(d.13th April 1917)
2nd Lieutenant Bertram Martin, 4th Royal Fusiliers was killed in action on 13th April 1917 between Wancourt and Guemappe, near Arras. He was awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery in the field, and is commemorated on Arras Memorial.
He was born 25th July 1880 and joined the army on the 1st of January 1915. Cpl Martin's MM was gazetted on 11th of October 1916, which was probably for actions in the early days of the Battle of the Somme.
From the Peterborough Advertiser 28th of April 1917: "Second-Lieut. Bertram Charles Martin, Royal Fusiliers, second son of Mr J T Martin, "West View", Woodston, is unofficially reported killed in action on April 13th. He joined the Army on January 1st, 1915, and went into training in Cornwall. He was drafted out to France and had been in the trenches practically ever since. Soon after going out he attained the rank of corporal. He had a marvelous escape in the battle of St. Eloi, when his haversack was shot through in several places and a tin box he was carrying was very much battered. In Delville Wood where he was for 16 days, he received a shrapnel wound above the knee and was in hospital for three months, returning to France about the middle of January this year. Subsequently he went into a training school to take up his commission, leaving on the 1st of April, and rejoining his own regiment on April 4th as Second-Lieutenant. Lieut. Martin was killed only nine days after obtaining his commission (April 13th). He wrote home on Easter Tuesday saying that he had been in a fight the previous day, when his men were in high spirits and behaved splendidly."
