Lieutenant-General Henry James "Kalfie" Martin (10 June 191020 October 2000) was a South African military commander.

Military career

He joined the

South African Air Force "Through hardships to the stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

in 1935 and played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

for his country in 1937. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he commanded

3 Wing Canadian Forces Base Bagotville , commonly referred to as CFB Bagotville, and also known as Bagotville Airport or Saguenay-Bagotville Airport, is a Canadian Forces base located west of La Baie, Quebec, Bagotville in the city of Saguenay, Quebec, ...

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

(1942–1943), and in 1945 he commanded 4 Group, which was responsible for transporting South African servicemen back home from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He was CO of

AFB Waterkloof Air Force Base Waterkloof is an airbase of the South African Air Force. It is situated on the outskirts of Pretoria, and is the SAAF's busiest airbase. The base's name, ''Waterkloof'', is Afrikaans. It means ''Water Ravine'' in English. Despite ...

from 1949 to 1951. He served as Quartermaster-General from 1 December 1953 to 31 October 1959, Air Chief of Staff (1 May 1965 to 30 June 1966) as Chief of the Air Force from 1 July 1966 to 30 November 1967, and as Chief of Defence Staff from 1 December 1967 to 31 December 1968.

Awards and decorations

* * * * * * * *

Rugby career

As a member of the Air Force, Martin played his club rugby for Garrison RFC and he also played provincial rugby for . In 1937 he toured with the Springboks to Australia and New Zealand. He played his first and only

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

against Australia on 17 July 1937. He also played 15 tour matches.

Test history

References

, - 1910 births 2000 deaths South African people of British descent White South African people South African military personnel of World War II South Africa international rugby union players Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) People from Bloemfontein Chiefs of the South African Air Force South African Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Graduates of the RAF Staff College, Bracknell Rugby union players from Bloemfontein Rugby union props Golden Lions players {{SouthAfrica-mil-bio-stub

Military career

Awards and decorations

Rugby career

Test history

See also

References