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PUBLISHED: 1940
PAGES: 141

 

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Don Winslow of the Navy

By Frank Victor Martinek

They would soon face more of it on the beach when the sun grew hot enough to broil a white man’s skin. Apparently, the slim, dark-eyed girl had suffered less than her two companions. Yet her stout whipcord breeches showed rough wear, and her face, under a mass of wind-blown curls, bore traces of weariness and jungle dirt. The society columnist who had described her coiffure at a Washington ball six weeks ago would have been startled to recognize Mercedes Colby, daughter of a retired Navy Admiral. Even more sharply would that columnist have been astonished by the identity of Miss Colby’s present escorts.

United States Naval Commanders are not ordinarily found in beachcombers’ rags on the shore of a tropical island. And nothing in the book of Navy Regulations (which covers everything) decrees that even a lieutenant must tackle the Haitian jungle barefooted, with half a shirt tucked into the remnant of once-white trousers. Since their appointment to the Naval Intelligence Service, the truth was that ordinary duties had never been the lot of Don Winslow and his husky shadow Lieutenant “Red” Pennington. In a few adventure-packed months, they had learned to take hardships as a daily ration, with danger for spice. Hunger, exhaustion, blistered skin, and bleeding feet were small matters compared with the importance of their present job—the stamping out of a vast international crime ring whose deliberate aim was to plunge the whole world into war.

To combat this secret menace, the United States Government needed an officer of rare courage and ability for its chief field operative, a man able to match wits with the world’s greatest spymaster—and win! He must be highly skilled in all forms of combat and an expert with every type of weapon. He must be tireless, self-reliant, and prepared to give his life in the line of duty without warning and regret. With these qualities in mind, the Navy Department’s final choice had fallen upon a distinguished young officer—Commander Don Winslow.

Not all of history’s great adventurers have looked their parts, but Don Winslow, in the ragged ruin of his uniform whites, was still a man to draw attention. The lithe swing of his powerfully muscled body, from shoulders to lean hips—the unconscious air of command that marks a Navy officer—the clear, level gaze, and the strong line of his jaw—all stamped him as a superb product of American birth and training.

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Frank Victor Martinek

According to his World War I and II draft cards and a 1920 passport application, Frank Victor Martinek was born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 15, 1891.

Biography.

However, the birth year in the Social Security Death Index is 1895, and the 1900 U.S. Federal Census said 1894. In the 1900 census, Martinek was the oldest of two children born to Frank and Mary, both Bohemian emigrants. The family resided in Chicago at 2622 Fifth Avenue. According to the 1910 census, the Martinek family of four and a servant lived in Chicago on West 38th Street. Martinek’s father was in the restaurant business.

The State (Columbia, South Carolina), October 12, 1942, published a brief profile of Martinek and said: With a job as a copyboy at the old Chicago Record-Herald, Martinek began his adventurous career. As a cub police reporter, he met Mrs. Mary Holland, a celebrated woman detective who taught him scientific criminal identification. He studied fingerprinting and left newspaper work to become an identification inspector for the Civil Service Commission. Unable to stay at a desk, Martinek answered the call of excitement, took to sea, and then found himself in many far corners of the earth as a soldier of fortune. In 1917, he organized the physical, chemical, and photographic laboratory for the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington and was commissioned an ensign….

On June 5, 1917, Martinek signed his World War I draft card with his full name and home address, 3431 Lowe Avenue in Chicago. His occupation was identification inspector for the city of Chicago in its service commission. His description was medium height and build with dark brown eyes and hair. Martinek was aboard the U.S.S. Albany in Vladivostok, Siberia, when the 1920 census was enumerated in March. His stateside address was 2212 Addison, Chicago.

Frank Victor Martinek

Frank Victor Martinek