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'Allan' was born in Crystal Brook on the 25th February 1922, the son of Alfred John and Mary Inglis Martin (nee Venning) of Goode Road Port Pirie.

Howard Allan Martin enlisted in the Royal Australian Airforce on the 12th October 1940 in Adelaide, South Australia.

Flight Sergeant Martin was a crew member of Wellington DV873 (108 Squadron) which was detailed to attack shipping in Tobruk Harbour during World War ll. The aircraft took off from its base in the Middle East at 2108 hours on the 19th October 1942 and at 0210 hours on the 20th October an S.O.S. was picked up by other aircraft operating in the same area. The starboard engine had sustained a broken oil line and the engine had completely failed.

The pilot decided to return to base and turning the aircraft around jettisoned the bomb load. Despite this lightening of the load the aircraft lost height rapidly and was also forced south. The crew were first told to jettison anything that could be moved and ordered to crash positions. Twelve minutes after the turn the pilot made a controlled crash landing about 70 miles south of Salloum Bay, Egypt. No injuries were sustained by any of the crew and fortunately the aircraft did not catch fire.

Over the next 6 days they walked east for about 100 miles before coming under attack from machinegun fire. They were captured by the Italians guards and taken to Tobruk. Allan and the other NCO’s were then taken by road to Tripoli and then by ship to Palermo, Italy then onto a transit camp Campo PG 66 at Capua; 20 miles north of Naples where they arrived on the 20th November 1942.
Allan was then sent to Campo PG 57 at Gruppignano in the far north of Italy near the Slovenian border where mainly Australian and New Zealanders were held. He remained there until the 8th September 1943 when Italy surrendered. Some prisoners made their escape when the armistice was announced but most of these, including Allan, were swiftly recaptured and transported to camps in Germany.

Allan was taken to Stalag XV111B, a transit camp located at Spittal an der Drau in southern Austria and then on the 22nd of September 1943 whist travelling by train through Austria to Germany he jumped off and escaped. He was soon recaptured and for this he was sent to Stalag XV111C at Markt Pongau near the German border and about 30 miles south of Salzburg, Austria. Conditions at the camp were very bad with overcrowding, no palliasses, blankets, fires or lights. There were no washing facilities and sanitary arrangements left a lot to be desired.

In June 1944 Allan was transferred to Stalag Luft VII located in Bankau, Silesia, Germany where facilities were vastly improved. There were hot showers, washing and sanitary facilities, permanent wooden bunks, electric lights and stoves, a library, some sports facilities and Red Cross parcels.
It was at Stalag Luft VII that Allan received his first letter from a 15 year old English secondary schoolgirl Joan Sapsford through a Red Cross service of which the formers father was chairman. She closed her eyes one day and stabbed at a random list of names and contacted Warrant Officer Howard Allan Martin and their correspondence continued back and forth right through the war until Allan was liberated by the Red Army on the 22nd April 1945.

Allan returned to England in June, 1945, and was quartered with other members of Royal Australian Air Force in a hotel at Brighton, Sussex, within easy distance of Miss Sapsford's home. He lost no time in calling on the girl who had helped him to brighten his prison camp days.

Allan left England for home on the 5th August 1945 disembarking in Sydney on the 9th September. He was demobilised on the 23rd November returning home to Port Pirie to work in his father’s drapery and jewellery business in Ellen Street.
On the 13th October 1946 Joan sailed for Australia to marry her penfriend at St. Paul’s Church of England, Port Pirie on Saturday the 7th December.

Sources:
Recorder, Port Pirie, SA; Monday 25 November 1946
Aircrewremembered.com