WHO?

Charlie Marlin (1919-1997)

Charlie Martin was born into a small farming community located close to Toronto in 1940. He enlisted into the Queens Own Rifles of Canada. The battalion sailed for England in 1941, which would lead to almost another three years of training before being Ok to fight. It was during this time that Martin fell in love with an English woman and radar operator named Vi. They get married in October 1943. Martin was steadily working his way up the NCO ranks and in February 1944 was promoted to Company Sergeant Major.

For his action and leadership on D-Day, Martin would be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

He would fight with the battalion through the many tough battles of the Normandy Campaign, after which the Canadians would move north to the pas-de-Calais region, clearing the German forces from the deep-water harbors around Boulogne/Mer and Calais.

Martin’s luck seemed to be holding out, but on 16^th April 1945, 23 days before the end of the war in Europe, he would be wounded by a burst of enemy machine-gun fire, but as Martin fell, he pulled out his pistol and killed the German soldier.