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Mike Martin
Mike
Martin was born in The Bronx in 1934, his father on Manhattan's Lower East
Side in 1898. One of Mike's first memories is of lying on the floor
reading the comic section as his father sat in his chair reading the
newspaper. He remembers his father lowering the paper, looking at him
wisely and saying, "Don't believe that Buck Rogers stuff! Man will
never go to the moon!" Mike Martin the Elder may have been wrong
about other things too, but his youngest son never learned of them.
Life in The Bronx was good, as his mother, a native of Fishkill, N.Y.,
insisted that they live where there was a park across the street. And
there was a bungalow in Putnam Lake, N.Y. where the city's sizzling
summers could be avoided.
After his father's death the family moved to Ticonderoga, N.Y., home of
historic Fort Ticonderoga and a place where a teenager could learn to
enjoy hunting, fishing and all the year 'round outdoor activities. He
learned that, in The Adirondacks, a bungalow is a camp.
His
four years in the U.S.Navy included a hitch in Beach Master Unit Two where
he was issued a kit that included, as he describes it, "green
uniforms, boots we called boondockers, a steel helmet and an M-1
Carbine.” Part of the Naval Beach Group, the Beach Masters landed with
amphibious forces, set up on the beach and controlled boat traffic from
the Line of Departure to the shore. He says, "While we were playing
games on the East Coast, Beach Master Unit One was taking a Hellacious
pounding in Korea. We, this country, owe those guys more than we
know."
As his characters did, Mike grew bored with retirement. He went from paper
mill electrician to stringer for The Glens Falls Post Star and
Ticonderoga’s Times of Ti and eventually, editor of The Times of Ti.
When he had enough of The North Country Winters he moved to Florida where
he became an armed security officer. He worked at federal facilities,
college campuses, Interstate rest areas and a host of other posts.
Then he bought a computer. |
Nickels and Dimes
by Mike Martin
Jimmy
Dymes was an orphan — twice.
Bo Nichols was born in The Bronx but his heritage was in The Deep South.
They met at Fort Dix during WW II. Major Parker picked them from the Out
Going Unit to serve in his Military Police unit. The Major wanted big men.
His philosophy was, "Buy them, by the pound and train them
hard." He carried that philosophy to the State Police after the war.
Jimmy Dymes was the exception to his rule.
Bo and Jimmy patrolled the streets of New York City as M.P.s during the
war. After a brief stint as trainees in surplus army suntans at war's end,
they patrolled those same streets in NYPD blue. They walked their beat in
the sizzling summer heat and in winter's icy chill. They earned their
Combat Cross Awards. They were assigned to patrol cars and then to desks.
And then it was time to retire.
Bo and Jimmy migrated to that part of The Deep South where Bo's
granddaddy, Big Bo Nichols, once served as Sheriff of Cove County.
Retirement grows boring for active men. Bo and Jimmy soon got the itch to
DO SOMETHING. They founded Aegis Security Agency. That's when the
excitement began. NICKELS and DIMES were on the street again.
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For more information, check out Great
Unpublished Writers and Mike Martin's
page.
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