Paul Benjamin Martino was born on January 21, 1926 in Providence, RI. He was the youngest son of Beniamino and Marietta (Gabrielle) Martino. Paul had three sisters, Jean, Lisa, and Eleanor, and four brothers, Bill, Santo, Phillip and Vito.

Paul, who was affectionately called "Popy" by his loved ones, attended Hope High School. He attempted to enlist in the Navy, but was rejected because of his flat feet.

On April 26, 1944 he was drafted into the Army. He was processed at Fort Devon's, MA. and was assigned to the infantry, and sent to Fort Bragg, N.C. for basic training. After completion of training he was immediately sent to Belgium.

At the beginning of December the 83rd moved to the north to relieve the 4th Infantry Division on the northeastern outskirts of the Hürtgen Forest, west of Düren (Germany). Moving to the Hürtgen Forest, the 83rd thrust forward from Gressenich to the west bank of the Roer where the 83rd was clearing the enemy west of the Roer River.

On December 16 1944, the Germans launched their winter offensive "Die Wacht am Rhein", to Americans known as the Battle of the Bulge. The 83rd entered the Battle of the Bulge, 27 December 1944, striking at Rochefort and reducing the enemy salient in a bitter struggle. The New Year brought no relief for the men of the 83rd. Although the "Screaming Eagles" of the 101st Airborne, the same division the 83rd had relieved upon its arrival in Normandy, had stubbornly held the vital road junctions at Bastogne, the Germans had taken the town of St. Vith, another important road junction to the northeast, on 22 December 1944.

The Germans were finally forced to evacuate the town. The division then moved along the north shoulder of the salient to the vicinity of Lierneux and attacked to the southeast, blazing a trail for the 3rd Armored Div to clear the points around Bihain and Langlir and the thick woods just north of the St Vith Highway. On January 3 1945, the 83rd's artillery battalions were attached to the 3rd Armored Division to support their offensive in the drive to cut the St. Vith-Houffalize road.

The clearing of this area by the 83rd, in terrible January weather, permitted the 3rd Armored Division to continue its drive to cut the last vital supply and communications link at the Germans' disposal. During these actions in the Battle of the Bulge, a shell from friendly fire hit a tree and Paul was wounded by the resulting shrapnel and was removed from the front line and taken to a hospital where he died on January 13, 1945.

The action in which Paul was wounded probably took place in the vicinity of Langlir Belgium, although this information can not been confirmed.

After the 324th Field Artillery Battalion and its sister battalions unleashed a preliminary artillery barrage, 3rd Armored advanced, followed by the 83rd infantry Division units. Against heavy resistance, the 83rd Infantry Division and the 3rd Armored Division made steady progress and cut the all-important St. Vith-Houffalize road by 17 January 1945.

On 22 January 1945 the Division moved back to Belgium and Holland for rehabilitation and training ... On 1 March, the 83rd Infantry Division advanced toward the Rhine in the operation "Grenade," and captured Neuss ... this time without Paul Martino, who was resting in foreign soil, thousands of miles away from his home and his family ...

These days Paul Martino rests in the beautiful American Military Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle ... He is remembered and honored by his sister, by his nephew Richard Martino, by his entire family, by every visitor of the Henri-Chapelle cemetery and by every visitor of the In Honored Glory website ...

Special thanks to his sister Eleanor, his niece's Judy and Jeanne
and his nephews, David and Richard Martino.