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Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Stephen G. Martin - Wisconsin Military Casualty Compilation - Afghanistan/Iraq
This entry was posted on 12/20/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Wisconsin Military Casualties Afghanistan Iraq Compilation.
Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Stephen Glen Martin, 39, Rhinelander, Wisconsin, died on Thursday, July 1, 2004, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., from wounds he sustained a week earlier in Mosul, Iraq, on Thursday, June 24, 2004. Martin was assigned to the Army Reserve’s 330th Military Police Detachment, out of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Staff Sergeant Martin was guarding the Mosul Interim Police Academy in Mosul when insurgents attacked. He was on the building's roof when a suicide truck bomber drove in the main entrance. He and Staff Sergeant Charles Kiser, of Cleveland, Wisconsin, and who also was with the 330th, opened fire on the truck, killing the driver, but not before the driver detonated the explosives underneath them, wounding Martin and killing Kiser.
The Web site militarytimes.com quoting the Associated Press notes that Stephen Martin was an Indiana native, and earlier in his life from 1984 to 1990 he had served in the Army as a military police officer in South Korea and Fort Dix, New Jersey. He then joined the Trenton, New Jersey Police Department. He later moved to Rhinelander joining their police department in 1996. In Rhinelander he advanced to the rank of police sergeant. As a police officer there, he spent most summers on the city’s bicycle patrol and also worked in city schools. He and another officer conducted bicycle rodeos, instructing children how to ride bikes safely. Having previously serving in the military he decided to serve again by joining the Army Reserve. In January 2003 to he joined the Reserve's 330th Military Police Detachment. The unit was activated in December of 2003 and arrived in Iraq in March of 2004. The militarytimes.com site also mentioned that Stephen Martin was remembered as an outdoorsman, patriot, practical joker, musician, vegetarian, and dedicated Rhinelander police officer. In Iraq, Staff Sergeant Martin functioned as a supervisor at the Mosul Public Safety Academy, where he was responsible for training Iraqi police recruits.
The Web site iraq.pigstye.net using information from the New Jesey news aggregator nj.com notes Martin joined the Army after graduating from high school. He took a detective job with Mercer County in New Jersey just after his Army tour of duty ended with the 101st Airborne Division. New Jersey colleagues remember Martin for his energy and his sense of humor. Martin lived in the Chambersburg section of Trenton during his time in New Jersey. The Web site iraq.pigstye.net went on to say Martin had been a detective with the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office out or Trenton and was remembered there as, "an ardent sleuth, trained to the hilt in law enforcement." He worked there on solving sexual assaults, homicides, and grand jury investigations for the county from 1990 to 1994. He also trained other officers in firearms usage. Another detective noted Martin went to Wisconsin to become a patrolman to work out on the streets and facilitate a career change. Martin then joined Rhinelander police department in the mid 1990s and then the Army Reserve in early 2003. Martin married his wife Kathy in May of 2003.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that there are only 18 sworn officers on the Rhinelander police force. It is a community of around 7,700 people. According to one of Martin's Rhinelander colleagues, one of Martin's motivations for the move to Rhinelander from New Jersey was, "wanting his family to grow up in a safe environment." The Journal Sentinel went on to say that while deployed to Iraq Staff Sergeant Martin helped train Iraqi police recruits and instructed them on special weapons, tactics, emergency medical procedures, and fire training. Family and friends remember Martin as loving the outdoors, M&M's, police work, his family, and his country. He was also remembered as a practical joker and a fan of Ernest Hemingway.
An obituary in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes Stephen G. Martin was born January 10, 1965 in Warsaw, Indiana. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Kathy Martin; son Seth (Mary-jean Keim); daughters Jessica and Brianna Martin; step-daughters Jackie, Jessica, and Kaitlyn Lindner; his parents Pastor Jim and Carolyn Martin; and, his sister Susan (Terry) Fenker. Staff Sergeant Stephen Glen Martin was laid to rest with full military honors at Forest Home Cemetery in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
Information for this short biography about Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Stephen Glen Martin was pieced together from the following sources: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Martin, SSG Stephen G.," July 6, 2004; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Rhinelander buries citizen-soldier - Stephen Martin's family far from alone as he's laid to rest," July 9, 2004; militarytimes.com, Associated Press, "Army Staff Sgt. Stephen G. Martin"; iraq.pigstye.net, nj.com, "Stephen Martin," posted July 8, 2004; Wisconsin Department of Veteran Affairs "Fallen Heroes Page"; and, CNN.com "War Casualties Page."
Note: This "Wisconsin Military Casualties Afghanistan Iraq Compilation" Daily Dadio blog Category is under construction. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Wisconsin War Casualties Page for a list of names noted by date of death. ( If readers know of other military service persons with Wisconsin connections that are not on the Web site comprehensive list of fatal casualties, or notice errors, please email Bob Keith at keithrg13@cooldadiomedia.com ).
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