Page 32 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine Fall 2019- Online Magazine

Jerry Martin Back Home in Amarillo
had the good fortune to be
born in Amarillo at the old
ISt. Anthony’s Hospital in
1937. My great grandfather
homesteaded here, and his
land was between Mirror and
Grand. My childhood home
was at 804 N. Woodland, part
of the homestead. Each time my
parents had another baby, my
grandfather would add another
bedroom on the house. I was
the third child of four. Our home
faced the giant grain elevators,
and we would sit on the front
porch swing and watch the long
lines of grain trucks waiting
to unload the wheat. Later, I
became a young entrepreneur,
selling lemonade to the truck
drivers for a nickel a glass, with
everyone drinking from the
same glass. That would NEVER
happen today!
32 Amarillo Senior Link
by Jerry Martin
Life as a teenager was great in
Amarillo; everyone was friendly,
with none of the mischief we
have today. I attended Amarillo
High and graduated in the class
of 1956. I was a member of the
Civil Air Patrol from the age of
12 through 1957. I dreamed of
being a pilot in the Air Force and
took the week-long testing to
become a pilot. Of the 23 men
taking the tests at Sheppard Air
Force Base, I was one of three
who successfully passed.
Upon arriving home, Flo, my
fiancée, met me at the plane;
when she heard that I had
passed, she began crying because
she had just recently seen a
movie about a test pilot who had
been killed in a crash. She was
afraid I would become a test pilot
and crash and be killed also. We
talked about it, and I declined the
opportunity.
I married my
sweetheart
Florence in
1956. We have
been married
for 63 years
and continue
to enjoy our
marriage.
I attended
West Texas
State. I was in
ROTC and was
commissioned
as a 2nd Lieutenant in the
Army. I was selected to be a
nuclear weapons officer, and
after intensive training at Sandia
Base, I was assigned to an Army
depot with more training and
experience. I was then assigned
to headquarters US Army
Europe in Heidelberg, Germany
where I was a member of a very
small team tasked to conduct
inspections of American Army
units storing weapons in support
of our various NATO military
units.
I was called into the Colonel’s
office, and he asked, “Where
would you want to move?” I
said, “I am happy with this
assignment.” He said we really
didn’t have a choice, and he
let me read a letter from the
Pentagon stating that, if I wanted
to make General, I would have
to have troop duty. I then said,
“If I have a choice, I would like
to be assigned to an ordnance
company in
Greece.” He
intercepted a
Captain whose
ship had stopped
in Italy and
transferred
him to North
Germany and
gave me the
Captain’s job in
Athens, Greece.
We were there
for the rest
of my tour of
active duty. We
made the decision to leave active
duty even though we had great
experiences while on active duty,