Crashed at Madgeburg on 1 Jan 45 in B-17 #44-8268, Prisoner of War (POW).



Gene was born on June 15, 1911 in Rolette to Nels and Elsie (Olson) Martinson. He graduated from Rolette High School in 1930. He lived a very fulfilling life and believed in faith, family, friends, farming and flying.



He and his siblings grew up on a farm where they used their imagination to the great concern of their parents. Gene, with the help of his brother, Bob, provided many amusing activities for the community such as making a Ferris wheel for cats and dogs. Gene also made an airplane, but it was too heavy to fly so he taxied around the yard and ended up running into the pump house thereby scaring his wide-eyed mother who was in there at the time. They were also very talented musicians. Gene was a member of a gospel quartet in the 30's which was reunited in 1980 for Rolette's 75th year celebration.



He also had a radio station and began broadcasting until the FRC (Federal Radio Commission) heard about it and shut him down. He bought his first airplane in 1937, which brought out a crowd wondering if he would crash while landing.



Prior to WWII, Gene, in addition to flying and farming, was also a mechanic. He was working in Cando, ND, when WWII started. He tried enlisting in the Army but was rejected for medical reasons. He had the required surgery and was able to enlist in October 1942. He was accepted into the Army Air Corps, ending up as a crew member on the B-17 "Flying Fortress" as a waist gunner and, when needed, the bombardier, which he was doing when the plane was shot down in January 1, 1945. He spent the remainder of the war as a POW.



Gene was married to Bette Jean Vrem and she passed away in August of 1967.



Upon his discharge in October 1945, he returned to Rolette where he farmed and, in 1948, began a 53-year career as a crop duster. During the winter months, he and a shooter would legally hunt for foxes. He also flew many "mercy" missions-doctors for house calls, patients to hospitals, food and mail to the stranded, and looking for lost animals. He gave many people their first plane rides and while doing so would bring a roll of toilet paper, throw it out and as it unraveled, cut it up with the propeller. Other time he would have a bag of flour, drop it and watch it explode when hitting the ground. When the telephone lines where being installed underground, he would, in his own way, "help" take out the lines on the now obsolete telephone poles.



After retiring from crop dusting he still farmed until an accident rendered his left arm almost useless. Then he and some of his friends would meet for breakfast (toast and coffee) and play their numbers game to see who would have to pay, usually two people. When both hips were broken at separate times, Gene took solace in the verse from II Corinthians 4:16, which states: "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day." Gene took that to mean though his physical body was broken he did not lose heart because his faith in Christ remained strong and was renewed every day.



Gene had a good sense of humor and always enjoyed a good joke or a good prank, whether it was on him or he doing it to somebody else. He was wise and practical and was gifted with a great ability to make what was needed using lathes and other tools.



Gene summed up his life when he said, "Air has been good to me."