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Note: John Herald "Barney" Martin was named for a cousin of his fathers'. This cousin told John "Barney's" mother, Ruth (while pregnant) that if the baby she was carrying were a boy and if she would name the baby after him, he would buy him a brand new suit. So she did.
When Barney was a toddler, he had a little rocking chair that he would sit in and rock and rock and rock, jabbering the word "googley, googley, googley". Someone in the family picked up on the word and began singing a popular song at the time which went "Barney Google, with the goog-goog-googley eyes". He was given the nickname "Barney" from that day forward and was almost never called John by anyone again (except, as he would wryly put it, "by the preacher or the dentist"). His oldest sister, Hazel remarked once that when he enlisted in WWII, she had to address his mail as "John Martin" and it was so strange to her.
Barney served in WWII in Battery A, 766th Field Artillery Battalion from 1/27/1943 to 3/13/1946 at the rank of Master Sargent. He was a member of Patton's 3rd Army and took part in the battles and campaigns in the northern Apennines and the Po Valley in Italy. He was sent to guard the Italian dictator Mussolini and his family and protect them but arrived too late to find their bodies hanging upside down in the square. He received the American Theatre Ribbon, as well as the European, African, and Middle Eastern ribbon with two bronze stars, the Good Conduct Medal, and the Victory Medal. He arrived home on July 31, 1945 and received an Honorable Discharge. He re-enlisted in the Army Reserves from 1954 until 1957. Most of this information was discovered after his death by his daughters (through records and family recollections by others) , as Barney would never talk about his experiences in the War.
Barney submitted an application to the Order of the Masons in Millersburg, Ohio on 9-6-1962 and was elected to membership on 9-20-1962 at the level of Apprentice Degree. He received his Fellowcraft Degree on 10-4-62. He became a Master Mason on 10-18-62 and successfully passed his Masters Lecture exam on 11-15-1962. According to the records kept for this particular Lodge, he achieved his succession of degrees more rapidly than any other candidate ever had in the Lodge. He attained the level of "Blue Lodge" - the highest level one can attain as a Master. He was the Lodge Master in 1966.
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