Charlotte Ellen Martin papers, bulk 1944-1945

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Summary

Creators:
Martin, Charlotte Ellen, 1904- and Martin, Cecil John, 1889-
Abstract:
Memoirs, diary, correspondence, financial records, printed matter and photographs relating to the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II. Includes papers of Cecil John Martin, husband of Charlotte Martin, a port captain of Cebu City and the owner and founder of the Cebu Stevedoring Company.
Extent:
3 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize folder (1.4 Linear Feet)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Charlotte Ellen Martin papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Background

Scope and content:

Personal files, including notes, photographs, manuscripts, writings, newspaper clippings, ephemera and copies of Charlotte E. Martin's "Two Jumps Ahead of the Japs," pertain to Charlotte Ellen Martin's life on Cebu Island and surrounding regions in the Philippines during World War II to late 1960s and her life back home in the United States.

Biographical / historical:

Charlotte Ellen Martin was born in Fennville River, Illinois, May 1904. At age six, she moved to the Cebu Island in the Philippines where her father Bob worked as a businessman. Martin came back to the Philippines after high school and met Cecil John Martin whom she later married. C. J. Martin was a businessman and master seaman who founded and owned The Cebu Stevedoring Company where he navigated through the straits of Cebu and surrounding islands.

At the outbreak of World War II, Charlotte Martin signed up for duty first working for United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) in the Office of the Surgeon Force. Then, she was heavily involved in the Red Cross and later, worked for the Army's Office of Strategic Service, (O.S.S.) in Washington, D.C. providing U.S. Army forces with intelligence in the field in order for OSS to help train anti-Japanese guerrilla movement in the Philippines--because she knew the culture and spoke the language fluently. Evidence of her second language is demonstrated in letters to the presidents of The Philippine Commonwealth, Sergio Osmeña, Jr. and Manual Acuña Roxas.

By 1942, The Japanese Imperial Army had occupied many strategic areas of the archipelago. Charlotte Martin went into hiding on the advice of a military friend. Many Filipino, Spanish and Americans hid from Japanese Imperial Forces in fear of experiencing the atrocities that were widely reported. Martin hid in the hills and mountains of Cebu, Leyte and Mindanao avoiding the Japanese until November 1943 when she was rescued by submarine and taken to Australia ending her ordeal.

This experience became the basis of her book that she wanted published entitled "Two Jumps Ahead of the Japs" which was subsequently censored and reviewed by the War Department and then rejected by major publishers because of the sensitive nature of the information in the book. Nevertheless, Martin's story is a first person account of how she survived in hiding from enemy forces.

After World War II, Martin became friends with President Sergio Osmeña (born in Cebu City) and was invited to attend his daughter's wedding in New York. When she came back to the Philippines from Washington, DC, she embedded herself into the threadwork of Filipino life once again. Martin was a board member of the Women's Club, the Girl Scouts and the Cebu City Rotary Club. Much later, C. John Martin sold The Cebu Stevedoring Company in October 1968.

In 1969, Cebu City adopted C. John Martin and Charlotte Ellen Martin as official "son" and "daughter" of their city as a gesture of gratitude for helping the community during and after the Philippine invasion. When her husband passed away in 1971, Charlotte sold their estate in Cebu. She remained a citizen of the United States enabling her to travel and to receive benefits she rightfully deserved but at painstaking cost. As the sale of her husband's company closed, Ms. Martin moved to San Francisco, California.

Acquisition information:
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 2013.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Charlotte Ellen Martin papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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