John Martins

John Martins, my uncle, was born October 6, 1931, and he passed away in the year 2000 from leukemia. He lived in Fresno most of his life.

After Uncle Johnny passed away, I was given his camera and a box full of his photographs. These included photos he had taken while in the Air Force during the Korean War.

During the Korean War, John was an Airman 2nd Class in the U. S. Airforce. These photos contain many photos of downed aircraft, and battle damaged aircraft. John's job in the Air Force was to pull the pilots and crews out of the planes when they went down. This most of the time meant pulling dead bodies from the downed planes. John was honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1952.

In his Korean War photos was also included a clipping which said,

LOVE AND THE SINGLE MAN. Bachelors are more unhappy than spinsters. That's the conclusion of a two-year study conducted by three researchers from California's Department of Public Health. They report that the single man suffers from more neurotic and antisocial tendencies than the single female. Apparently, most of the good, normal single men are quickly inveigled into marriage by attractive, designing and irresistible females. What's left are the weak, unstable mamma's boys no one wants.

This is curious, because Uncle Johnny remained a bachelor until his mid-forties. The only question is, did he take this seriously, or was he simply amused by it? (My guess is he was simply amused by it.)