Place Name
John Ignatius Kilmartin (July 8, 1913 – October 1, 1998) was born in Dundalk, Ireland, in a large family. But when his father died the young boy was sent to Australia under a scheme to resettle deprived children. There he worked on a cattle ranch in Australia before moving to Shanghai where he became a bank clerk before joining the RAF on a short service commission in February 1937. After training and a short spell in Sussex, he was posted to No 1 Squadron in France just months after the start of the Second World War. He had various postings around the UK scoring 15 kills before leading a wing from Hornchurch in March 1943. After the war Kilmartin stayed in the RAF and held several positions in NATO until July 1958, when he retired as a Wing Commander. He married and settled in Devon where he ran a chicken farm.
