St. Pete Air Force veteran, 4-time Silver Star recipient reflects on decades of service

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Colonel Sam Martin, now 92, took to the skies for over two decades, finding his passion in life through a bird's eye view while serving his country. 

He joined the aviation cadets in 1954 and later, served in Vietnam, earning four Silver Star decorations throughout his years in service. After training, when his assignment time arrived, he was motivated to go overseas. 

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"They asked me where I wanted to go out of there and I said, every organization is going overseas. The group at Clovis, New Mexico, which is out in the desert, is going to France. I said, ‘I want to go.’" 

"So, I just went over there for three years and came back to stage another squadron," he said. 

Good Day Salutes Col. Sam Martin

His next stop was supposed to be Saigon to plan missions, but things flew in a different direction. 

"Somebody came up, saw my name tag, and said, ‘You keep getting phone calls.’ I said, ‘Really?’ He said, ‘You’ve had several phone calls over there,' so I went over by the phone.

"And one of the fellows I know from a sister wing over in Bitburg, Germany, said, ‘Hey, Mallard, are you a weasel?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not a weasel.' 

"He said, ‘Good.' He was stationed at Korat as a combat pilot. And he says, ‘I’m going to be down tomorrow morning and pick you up, you're going to be in our squadron.

Sam Martin harkens back on his years of service in the Air Force. 

"Okay, if I don't go to Saigon, I'm AWOL," Martin said. 

And that he was. 

"And I started flying the next day," Col. Martin said. "Now, I'm flying combat missions in Korat. So, that's where I belonged, I fit in, and I had about 30 missions." 

After his service and flying, he was offered an opportunity to retire and step away from the Air Force. 

This led him to the power business in Washington state and later, brought him home to St. Petersburg where he continued to raise his family. 

Bob's Vets meets in St. Pete. 

These days, he enjoys fishing, spending time with his family, and his fellow battle buddies at Bob's Vets in St. Pete

WATCH: Veterans bond over breakfast in St. Pete

"Life is good, you know? So relax and enjoy it," Martin said. "And I know a lot of things are on your bucket list. But maybe you ought to do it right now while you can because sometimes buckets have a hole in it," he said. 

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