A postal facility in Illinois will be renamed after a Tuskegee airman, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Olympia Fields Post Office will be named for a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen who lived in the suburb, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson, who introduced the legislation in late February. Robert Martin lived in Olympia Fields from 2008 until his death at age 99 in July 2018.
The U.S. Senate approved the legislation last week and the House of Representatives approved the measure in late April, and the legislation now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature. Martin flew dozens of missions and was awarded honors, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart. He was discharged from the U.S. Army in 1945 with the rank of captain. Martin was born in Dubuque, Iowa, on Feb. 9, 1919.
Before the war, he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and after being discharged from the military worked as an electrical engineer for the city of Chicago before retiring in 1988. In a news release from Kelly’s office, Gabrielle Martin, one of the flier’s daughters, said that her father’s “life in public service is being honored and will serve as a beacon for younger generations.” James Lewis, a spokesman for Kelly, said that her office is working with the Postal Service and Martin’s family to schedule a ceremony at the post office.
A sign denoting the naming of the post office for Capt. Martin is also in the works, he said. Martin was part of a group of Black aviators who served in the U.S. armed forces at a time when he and other airmen trained and lived in segregated facilities. The administration of President Franklin Roosevelt made flight instruction available at selected Black colleges as part of the Civilian Pilot Training Program, and an air base was established devoted to training Black pilots near the famed Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, founded by the pioneering Black educator Booker T. Washington.
Martin earned his wings in 1944 and was commissioned a second lieutenant, then flew with a squadron based in Italy. On his 64th mission, Martin was shot down by enemy gunfire near Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in 1945. He spent a month in a secret Yugoslavian camp before the Allied advance allowed him to return to his unit’s base in Italy. Martin and his wife were married for 68 years and had four children.
