Robert Joseph Martinez

Robert J. Martinez, retired soldier and government worker, died on March 21, 2006 at home. He was 89 years old. Mr. Martinez' military career spanned two wars and included four overseas assignments on three continents, two of them twice, and nine foreign countries. The first of these came when he was the first sergeant of a tank maintenance unit deployed to Egypt to maintain American tanks supplied to the British to aid them in their fight to keep the German Afrika Korps from capturing Egypt and the strategic Suez Canal. After being briefly diverted to Asmara, Eritrea the unit was returned to Tel-el-Kebir, Egypt where its mission was expanded to include the repair of battledamaged British, German, and Italian ordnance materiel. . After the decisive British victory at el Alamein, tactical and operational control of the unit was transferred to the British Eighth Army and the unit participated in all of the ensuing desert campaigns that resulted in the recapture of the cities of Tobruk, Nenghazi and Tripoli. During the latter campaign, Mr. Martinez was awardee a battlefield commission and promoted to second lieutenant. He'remained assigned to the same unit which reverted to American control after the link-up of British and American forces in Tunisia. Assigned to the U.S. Fifth Army for the invasion ofItaly, the unit landed at Salerno and was an integral part of the advance northward through the harsh Italian winter. In January 1944 it was one of the elite units selected for the daring seaborne landing behind German lines that became known as the Anzio Beachhead. After nearly two years of uninterrupted foreign service, Mr. Martinez was returned to the United States where he married Miss Eileen Conway of Long Island and was briefly stationed at Camp Patrick Henry in Virginia. Then, eight months after Anzio and two months after being married, he was again deployed overseas, this time to India where he served with the 20th Bomber Command. Upon his return to the United States, Mr. Martinez was named Assistant Director of National Activities at Raritan Arsenal, New Jersey. He remained in that position until his retirement from the Army in March 1961. As a civilian Mr. Martinez worked at both Raritan Arsenal and Picatinn) Arsenal in New Jersey as a technical writer and editor before transferring to the Combat Developments Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground where he became responsible for developing the criteria used to allocate maintenance personnel to Army units. He remained in this position after the function was transferred to the Ordnance Center and School where he retired from government service in April 1977. After retirement he continued to reside with his family in Aberdeen. His wife, Eileen, of 54 years died in 1999. He is survived by his son Robert J. Martinez n of Aberdeen, his daughter Sheila Cassidy, and her husband Ron of Abingdon, his grandson Mark Cassidy, and his wife Kim, of Bel Air and his great granddaughter Nicole Cassidy. Funeral Home: Tarring-Cargo Funeral Home 333 South Parke Street Aberdeen, MD US 21001