Martin W. O’Brien, Jr.

United States army air force 1942-1945 (kia)

world war ii

corporal

purple heart

air medal

pow

Martin William O’Brien Jr. was born on March 24, 1925, the first child of Martin W. Sr. and Hilda (Obram) and was raised in the Thompsonville section of Enfield, CT. Martin Jr., known as “Marty or “O.B.” attended Enfield High School where he excelled academically and was active in the Delegate Assembly, Camera Club, President of the Science Club, acted in several school plays earning him the ‘class actor’ superlative, he was class Treasurer and graduated with the class of 1942.

Marty worked in the payroll department at Bigelow-Sanford Carpet mill and was attending Northeastern University before he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on August 11, 1943. He would train and serve as a B-29 aerial gunner being promoted rapidly to the rank of corporal. Marty and his crew reported to North Field on Guam in late June 1945 and assigned to the 28th Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group, 314th Wing, 20th Air Force. During the return flight on their fourth mission, a bombing raid on Omuta Japan on July 27, 1945, their B-29 Superfortress bomber was shot down by enemy aircraft. Most of the crew parachuted safely, two were killed in the wreckage, one of two crash survivors was killed by local farmers while trying to evade capture. All were eventually captured, imprisoned and executed in the closing days of the war.
Corporal Martin W. O’Brien Jr.'s exact fate has never been verified and is unknown; his remains were never recovered, he was just twenty one years old. His name is listed on the Cemetery of the Pacific memorial.