Akronite Gets Medal
For Domingo Feat

   Akron paratrooper Percy Martin III has been awarded the Silver Star, the nation's third highest award for valor, for wiping out a machinegun nest singlehandedly in action in the Dominican Republic last Summer.

/font>  PFC Martin, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Percy Martin Jr., 949 Packard dr., Is attached to the 1st Airborne Battalion of the 508th Army Infantry Division, currently stationed at Fort Bragg, NC.

Tells How He Wiped Out A Machinegun Nest!

   "When I first saw the machinegun, it was right In front of me.
   "I knew I couldn't go back, so I started running toward it. They began firing at me, but the shots were falling short."
   That was how 22-year-old Cpl. Percy Martin III, son of Mr. and Mrs. Percy Martin Jr., 949 Packard St., described the moments just before he single-handedly wiped out a machine gun nest in the Dominican Republic Crisis last Spring.
    As the bullets hit the street in front of him, Martin said that bits of pavement flew through the air, striking him in the face and falling down his neck.
   But Martin kept running forward and when he was 20 yards from the gun, he tossed a hand grenade  "It killed one of the rebels," he said, "and the other two I killed with my automatic rifle."
  Martin, who came home on leave for the holidays, was awarded the Silver Star the nation's third highest medal for his feat. The young soldier, who attended Buchtel High School before enlisting in the Army in 1962, is now headed for another hotspot. 
   Just before coming home on leave he received orders transferring him to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in Vietnam.
   Martin's unit, Company A of the 1st Airborne Battalion, 508th Infantry Division, was the first to arrive in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic.
   "We landed at the airport about 3 a.m. on April 30 and immediately were taken downtown by bus," Martin recalled. "We had been given orders to separate the rebel and loyalist troops who were fighting there."
   The Loyalists were composed of the Dominican air force and navy, while the rebels were insurgent army troops, Martin said.
   "After two privates and a captain attached to our unit were killed by rebel snipers, we were ordered to clear a two-block area in the center of Town where the fighting was heaviest," Martin said. "We ended up taking four blocks, but it took us seven hours to get that far." It was during that four-block battle that Martin earned his Silver Star.
   "We had just turned the corner when we saw the rebel machinegun set up in the middle of the street about halfway up the block," Martin said.
   "I was acting as point man for my platoon which was a position about 30 yards ahead of the other guys. They already had our first platoon pinned down with the gun; then it started firing at us."
   It was then that Martin rushed forward to toss his grenade and wipe out the machinegun.
   It was not until he returned to Ft. Bragg, N. C, several months later that Martin learned he had been awarded the decoration.

[The Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, 06 Jan 1966, Thu • Main Edition, Page 67]