Mentioned in Despatches

City Naval Pilot Earns Mention In Dispatches Lieutenant Martyn Commended For Bravery

The latest Calgary airman to bring renown to himself and his “old home town” in the present war above the clouds is Lieutenant William A. Martyn, Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm), 24-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. C. M. Martyn, 1608 Thirteenth avenue west.

A cable received from the Old Country Wednesday night brought word that Lieut. Martyn has been mentioned in dispatches “for bravery and continued devotion to duty in combatting enemy aircraft.”

Mention in despatches is considered a high honor, and is an important step towards a decoration.

Lieut. Martyn, formerly an officer in the Royal Air Force, and now holder of the highest commission open to a flier in the Fleet Air Arm, has been in the thickest of the fighting since the war started.

ACTION IN AFRICA

He has been in operations from the equator to the Arctic circle, bombing and fighting at Narvik, Dunkerque, in the Near East, and in the capture of the French fleet at Oran in North Africa. In the latter battle he was flying from the aircraft carrier “Ark Royal”.

He was the hero and leader of an action at Calais in June, when Nazi gun emplacements and air bases were smashed. While no confirmation is obtainable, it is believed this exploit merited the mention in despatches.

FOUR YEARS AGO

Lieut. Martyn joined the R.A.F. in 1936, and two years later was transferred to the Royal Navy. He is six feet, three inches tall, and broad in proportion.

Besides letters from his son at the battlefront, his father has other reasons for paying close attention to the war. For 15 years Mr. Martyn has been sales representative for the Holland Binder Twine. In the rush through the Lowlands, all of the company's five factories in Holland were bombed, and Mr. Martyn has found his supply of twine vanished for this year, at least.

Headline is main head 'City Naval Pilot Earns Mention In Dispatches' plus sub-head 'Lieutenant Martyn Commended For Bravery', joined here. A portrait photograph of Martyn in uniform, captioned 'LIEUT. MARTYN', sits to the left of the article. Printed middle initial is 'A.' ('William A. Martyn'), unlike n09 which prints 'H.'; kept as printed. 'despatches' and 'dispatches' are both printed as shown. 'ACTION IN AFRICA' and 'FOUR YEARS AGO' are bold sub-headings, given as their own paragraphs. Unrelated neighbouring articles in the left column ('Swim Nets Hundreds / Roll Out The Bottles' and 'Lose Their Chance') are left out.