Charles A. Martin Bio

CHARLES A. MARTIN
Author of The Last Great Ace: The Life of Thomas B. McGuire, Jr.

Charles A. Martin was born in 1929, in Rome, Georgia. He moved with his family to Sebring, Florida, a few months later, where his father, Dr. Leldon W. Martin, opened a medical practice. 

At age 16 he took flying lessons and received a pilot’s license. He graduated from Sebring High School in 1948 and was in basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, on the first anniversary of  the United States Air Force becoming a separate branch of the service. He was also on active duty during the Korean War.

In 1953, Martin survived a plane crash at Stiengel Field, Gainesville,
Florida, in which he landed a plane  without injury after the engine had
failed on take-off. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1956 and was employed by Eastman Kodak as a Technical Sales Representative.
He worked in the Kodak Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1964 and for 13 years was Kodak’s representative to Triangle Publications, printer of TV Guide and Seventeen Magazine in Philadelphia, and later Arcata Graphics, printer of Reader’s Digest and Time Magazine in Buffalo.

Martin married Antoinette Dean from Jackson Heights, New York, in 1957 and they have three children. He has lived in Fruit Cove, Florida, since 1994 where he writes and is a tour guide at the World Golf Hall of Fame Museum, St. Johns, Florida.

Martin spent 15 years researching and writing THE LAST GREAT ACE. Over 100 interviews were conducted during the that period. Martin has been honored by the Air Force Association for writing the book and is featured in a Wings program currently running nationally on the Discovery Channel.  

Contact Charles A. Martin at LastGace@aol.com