Don Martin, Soldier of the Pen – Launch of Daily Blog

Starting today, this blog will present, in his words, the story of American journalist Don Martin’s engagement with the Great War."Don Martin was a soldier, too — A soldier of the pen" poet Minna Irving declared in October 1918 (see below). 

Each day, from today to the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day on November 11, 2018, Don Martin's writings will be posted on the centenary of their appearance, to allow readers to share Don Martin's Great War experiences day by day and he recorded and reported them. 

   Perhaps the leading political journalist in America at the time, Don Martin was sent by his newspaper, the New York Herald, to cover the American Expeditionary Force at the end of December 1917. A prolific writer, some two hundred of Don Martin's dispatches were published in 1918.

Don Martin also kept a diary, and his diaries for 1916, 1917 and 1918 have survived.

Each daily post will include the entry in his diary for that day 100 years ago,  excerpts from letters, and his dispatches published in the New York Herald and the Paris Herald. Commentary on what was occurring to Don Martin and in the war will be added as appropriate.

         Don Martin’s stories were eagerly awaited and read in the New York Herald and syndicated newspapers by readers all across America, and in the Paris Herald by American troops in Europe. Don Martin contracted Spanish influenza in the early days of October 1918, and he died in Paris a few days later. Among the many tributes to his service was the following poem written by Minna Irving of Tarrytown, New York, titled ‘Soldier of the Pen’ and published in the New York Herald.

He took the simple words we use

        And shaped them with his art

In wondrous imag’ry to show

        Poor France’s bleeding heart.

He made us hear beyond the sea

The roar of flaming guns.

And feel the nameless agonies,

Inflicted by the Huns.

Enfold him with the starry flag;

He died in uniform,

A stormy petrel of the press

  Who loved the battle storm.

Salute him with your lifted swords,

  Ye Allied fighting men,

Don Martin was a soldier, too—

  A soldier of the pen.

--MINNA IRVING

What made Don Martin so beloved?  Here is how Private Leland R. B. Gilbert, field representative of the official government newspaper, Stars and Stripes, described it, as published in the New York Herald shortly after Don Martin’s death:

     “As an American soldier and newspaper man, permit me to express along with hundreds of others my sincere regret at the untimely death of Don Martin. His interesting and well phrased pen pictures of our army were always eagerly awaited and appreciated to the fullest extent by many thousands of American soldiers in France. He possessed an individual and graphic style. At the same time he always was in the thick of the fighting and was prompt to chronicle events for Herald readers. He will be ranked with Joyce, Kilmer and other writers who have given their lives in the performance of their duties over here.”