DAVID MARTIN April 1, 1918 - April 16, 2002.

David Martin had been the last survivor of the ten Bermudian volunteers who served with the Parachute Regiment in the Second World War. He died on April 16 of this year. Miraculously, all but one returned to Bermuda after the war. Over the years, one by one they left us until only David remained. Now he has joined the others to live permanently in our memories.

David was born on April 1, 1918 in Warwick, was Christened at Christ Church in Warwick, attended Warwick Academy and grew up at Longford Hill in Warwick with his parents, Francis and Emily Martin, and his six brothers and sisters. Many relatives and friends, including war veterans, attended his funeral service conducted by the Rev. Alan Garrity at Christ Church in Warwick.

Intensively patriotic, as were so many of his generation, he enlisted in the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps at the outbreak of the Second World War. Volunteering for service overseas, he left Bermuda with the 86-strong BVRC second contingent in March, 1944 to join the Lincolnshire Regiment in England.

Answering yet another call for volunteers, along with nine other Bermudians, David became a paratrooper.

After basic training on Salisbury Plain, the Bermudians were posted to the 13th Parachute Battalion of the 5th Parachute Brigade in the 6th Airborne Division.

Their first action was not a parachute jump, but as ground infantry support during the Battle of the Bulge.

The 9th US Army then relieved the 6th Airborne, who returned to England to train in preparation for the big assault over the River Rhine. The American 82nd and 10st Airborne Divisions joined them. The operation was the largest parachute offensive ever undertaken.

On a day of the foulest weather imaginable, the division was ordered to march farther up the river to a point opposite the German position, behind which the paratroopers were scheduled to drop.

Fellow paratrooper, the late Tony Madeiros, spoke for all of them when he remembered vividly that it was not only "the torrential rain and mud, but because it was the moment of reality. We now knew we were really in a war. We could hear the guns and bombing. The shelling was intense. We were strafed with tracer bullets. Arriving at our bivouac area, we dug ourselves in, in the mud".

The objective of the attack was an attempt to stop reinforcements from reaching the German front-lines.

The late Eric Spencer, another of David's comrades in the historic drop, some years ago in a taped interview, recalled: "On the way down we fell through a barrage of red tracer bullets, but I don't think anyone was hit. I was so frightened there was no saliva in my mouth - it was as dry as my arm".

The Rhine jump was in farm country. Their first engagement on the ground was to capture a farm house held by Germans. Paratrooper Joe Kemp and another English paratrooper drew the assignment to blow the doors open with grenades. They succeeded and the Germans came out with their hands up. The parachute drop was highly successful. Five or six days later, the Allied advance caught up with them.

The 6th Airborne Division was in Copenhagen, Denmark for the official German surrender that ended the war in Europe on May 10, 1945.

The Division returned to England where the 5th Parachute Brigade was withdrawn to proceed to the Far East. Twenty-eight days after they left Gourock, Scotland they arrived in Bombay, India en route for the invasion of Singapore. The journey through the Red Sea had been so hot, the troops had to take salt tablets to combat dehydration.

After the capture of Singapore and Malaysia, David's unit linked up with their American and Australian counterparts to prepare for the invasion of Japan. Just ten days before they were to set out, the atomic bombs fell, and the Japanese surrendered.

A full year's service was still ahead in the Far East. Six months of it was in Indonesia. They went to Java to help the Dutch, and made the journey to Samarang on the old PSNC Orduna, a favourite of many Bermudians travelling to England before the war. To their surprise, Samarang was deserted. Not realising the arrivals were friendly, the civilians fled, but gradually returned.

David returned to Bermuda in 1946 and married Mary Pereira, who predeceased him in 1983.

He always liked boats and was employed by Sir Richard Fairey, the famous English aeronautical inventor, designer and industrialist, then living in Bermuda. He operated Sir Richard's boat. David became a superb seaman with a thorough knowledge of Bermuda's reefs.

He went on to secure his pilot's licence and purchased Stardust. As Captain David Martin, he had a successful career in charter boat fishing. He was a member of the US Navy's Anglers Club in Bermuda.

After selling Stardust, David was employed by the Bermuda Biological Station, in charge of their research vessel, the Weatherbird. Moving on to the Bermuda Government's Department of Fisheries, David took over their boat, the Calamus.

On retiring, he worked part-time for Jimmy Viera at Diesel Generator Ltd.

Four years ago he decided on a last trip to England with his friends, Sean and Ruth Ingham. They visited his many wartime locations and bases. As they came in to land at Ringway Airport in Manchester, he recognised that it was the very airport where his paratroop training had started.

David's stepson, Gene, describes him as "very easygoing, a quiet man". His army comrades agree. David was well liked, and among the most loyal BVRC Overseas Association members.

Malcolm Gosling says that whenever he telephoned each year to remind David of the date of the Association's annual reunion, David's stock reply always was, "You don't have to call me! You know I'll be there!"

He was also a member of the Bermuda War Veterans Association.

Brian Northcott operates Puma Generator Agency, a business similar to Jimmy Viera's. David, Brian and Jimmy often met for breakfast at Speciality Inn. Like others who knew David well, Brian found him to be quiet, adding "David never had a bad word for anyone. He seldom talked about his war experiences, but could be persuaded to from time to time".

David's brothers, Francis and Lewis, predeceased him. Surviving are sisters Rosemary Byrom of Bermuda, and Cecilia Weeks of Jacksonville, Florida: in Canada, brothers John of St. Catherine's, Ontario, and Russell of Beaverton, Ontario; and their families.

BY TOMMY AITCHISON