Donald McMartin, 91, packed up his car on the evening of Oct. 6, 2016 and headed west on Highway 50. He was evacuated from his Titusville home ahead of Hurricane Matthew. McMartin didn’t have a place to stay and decided to drive until he found something. He drove through Orlando, finding no availability at hotels there.
McMartin is a combat army veteran. He served in WWII and the Korean War. He spent 20 months on the frontlines in Korea. He was one out of 2000 men chosen to join the frontlines because he could cook as McMartin explains it. He served as a Mess Sergeant in the army.
Just as McMartin entered Brooksville, he spotted the Brooksville VFW post #8713 and decided to stop in for a drink. He is a VFW member at large. Realizing that McMartin didn’t have a place to stay, some of the ladies called several hotels to no avail. “My wife Denise overheard them and wanted him to spend the night with us, which was great. We got to meet a new friend,” said Fred Walden, VFW member. “And we convinced him to stay one more night because we don’t know what the situation is like over there,” Walden said on Friday evening.
“VFW family members stick together,” said JO Batten, post #8713 commander. “VFW family members have a common bond that they were all in combat, hostile fire zones and that’s the reason we’re such a good family because we’ve all been through a similar experience.”
“When they dropped the atomic bomb, I was in the Phillipine Highlands… the next day I was in Kobe, Japan,” said McMartin.
“But talk about hospitality from a VFW member is unbelievable… I was just driving to find a port. I had just seen the VFW club here… and they made a home for me.”
“We just done what anybody would do,” said Fred Walden.
This was McMartin’s first time in Brooksville and he says he is sure to return.
“We not only take care of VFW members,” said Batten “We take care of a lot of Veterans that are not eligible to join the VFW. We have a food bank here. We help needy veterans pay their rent, their electric, their phone bill in order to keep them from becoming a homeless veteran. The VFW does that worldwide. That’s what we are. We’re a veteran service organization.”
Batten also explained that the VFW Riders is a big part of the service organization. The VFW Riders, many of which are Vietnam Veterans, is a motorcycle group that conducts benefit rides for various causes. “Some of the motorcycle people have the biggest hearts in the world,” said Batten.
“They sent 2000 of us out to California and put us on a boat to go to Korea. When the 2000 of us got to Korea, they called off one guy out of the 2000 and that was me. They sent me along with six others in a trolley up to the frontlines,” explained McMartin.
The officer that met him at the front lines called him up and told him, “You got two ways out of Korea. One is graves registration and the other is a hospital, and he said ‘God Bless You.’ ”
“We lost people everyday, right in front of us,” said McMartin.
McMartin was 21 years old.
“The reason they sent me over there is because they couldn’t get anybody to cook on the front line and I was a Mess Sergeant.”
The experience on the frontlines in Korea has been with him throughout his life as he has suffered from PTSD which has worsened with age and with the loss of his wife of 70 years.
“Anyway it’s good people like this that makes life worth living,” said McMartin.
“I’m so glad that 50 comes from Titusville to Brooksville,” said JO Batten.