Martin, Delbert LaRue
Navy Reserves Ensign

Delbert LaRue Martin, age 23, from Shelby County Fountaintown, Indiana .

Parents: J. Frank and Anna Marie Martin

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Unknown
Death details: On June 18, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Ensign Delbert LaRue Martin, missing from World War II. Martin entered the U.S. Navy from Indiana and was a member of Naval Fighting Squadron 12 embarked aboard the USS Randolph (CV-15). On March 21, 1945, he took off from the Randolph piloting an F6F-5 Hellcat (Bureau Number 72309) on a fighter combat and photographic mission over Yap Island, Federated States of Micronesia. Martin’s aircraft was seen to crash near the target area. He was not seen or heard from again, and his remains were not accounted for after the war. On March 22, 1946, the Navy issued him a presumptive finding of death. Following the war, from 1945-1947, the American Graves Registration Service conducted recovery and identification efforts on Yap Island for missing service members. Those remains that were recovered from the area but could not be identified at the time were interred as Unknowns at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial (MACM). In December 2020, following a recommendation of DPAA analysts based on historical and anthropological records, and the availability of current identification technology, one of these previously unidentified remains were exhumed from the MACM and transferred to the DPAA laboratory for scientific analysis. Based on the laboratory analysis and the total circumstantial evidence, the remains were found to be those of Martin.
Cemetery: Fairland (2025)

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Shelbyville News (2025)