Albert Martin was born on 23 December 1920 in Brussels, Belgium. His mother, Helen Cobb, had served in an organization supporting the Allied forces in World War I when she met and married a Belgian man, Albert’s biological father. However, the marriage did not last long, and she returned home with Albert to Minneapolis, Minnesotata, where her father was a prominent attorney.

In Minneapolis, Helen met Mac Martin and they married in 1922. Mac adopted Albert, and loved him dearly as a son. Mac was the only father that Albert ever knew.  Mac was the owner of a large and successful advertising agency and one of the founders of the Minnesota Better Business Bureau.Together, Mac and Helen designed their elegant house on Mount Curve Avenue. The fireplace included a fragment of the Great Wall of China. 

Albert graduated cum laude from the Blake School in 1939. In high school, he was an academic and athletic star. He was the school's student body president, earned ten sports letters, and was noted for his public speaking. After high school, Albert enrolled at Yale University, and majored in international relations. He played three sports at Yale, and had the intention of eventually going into commercial aviation upon his graduation in 1943. However, he was also a member of Yale’s Army ROTC battalion, and there was a war going on. Upon graduation, Albert was commissioned as a lieutenant in the US Army and he was assigned to the 590th Field Artillery Battalion, which was attached to the 106th Infantry Divisioin

Duirng the Battle of the Bulge, on December 21, 1944, Albert was near the village of Sart-lez-St. Vith, Belgium helping to direct artillery vehicles toward the Hinderhausen Road. Some of the Headquarters vehicles were unaccounted for, so Albert set out to find them. Immediately east of Poteau, three German infantryman opened fire on the vehicle. The driver, Sergeant Kuka, spun the jeep around at the same time that Albrt took a bullet. Albert was thrown from the vehicle.  He ordered Sgt. Kuka to “keep going!” As Kuka spread away, he heard Albert firing away at the Germans. When they found Albert’s body a few days later, three dead Germans were lying nearby. Albert was posthumously awarded the Silver Cross and the Purple Heart for his actions that day. 

The information above is courtesy of Vincent Vandenberg (https://sites.google.com/site/rememberourliberators/soldats-adoptes/albe...) and the Artillery OCS Alumni Chapter (http://www.artilleryocsalumni.com/ww2/martinac.pdf)