Martin Joseph Sheehan

Martin Joseph Sheehan (1896-1918) was a Second Lieutenant with the Royal Air Force, who served and was killed on the Western Front in World War I. He was the second of three sons of Captain D. D. Sheehan, MP for Mid-Cork, Ireland who served with him on the front.
Early years
Born on 12 April 1896 in Tralee, County Kerry Ireland, he was educated at Christian College, Cork and Mount St. Joseph's College, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. He won several prizes in school sports and played for Munster in the Rugby Inter-Provintial Senior College Championships, being described in the Dublin Press as 'the most brilliant three-quarter back the College had produced for years'.
Enlistment
He went to Canada in 1913, and was employed in the Union Bank of Canada at Bassano and Bellevue, Alberta. He joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force as a private in 1915 and won the all-round Athletic Championship of his Division in Nova Scotia.
He came overseas with his battalion in 1916, transferred as a cadet to the Royal Munster Fusiliers and later obtained his commission. With them he was in some of the fiercest fighting at the Battle of Passchendaele and elsewhere.
Royal Air Force
He transferred to the Royal Air Service 13th Squadron as 'Observer' and saw considerable service in France and Italy. In a letter to his father in July 1918 he wrote: ”Well father you need not worry about me. You say the Bosche has got better and braver than me. Perhaps. But that was in the days when we were not superior in the air. Now we have them licked upside down, and I am a damn good shot and my gun fires 600 rounds a minute. And it is a better gun and is better mounted than the Bosche Gun. A year ago was different from today.
I have not been brought down yet, and I have flown a decent amount over the Lines. I am quite sure of coming Home alright. Yesterday we brought a Bosche down in flames. He dared to come over the Lines. He never went Home. “

Death
He went out on observation duty over the enemy lines on the morning of 1 October 1918, and met his death, but in what circumstances has never been known.

He is buried in the British War Cemetery, at Anneux, France; Grave no.: Plot 1, Row H21.
Anneux lies 6 km west of Cambrai on the N30 national road to Bapaume.
Kinsmen killed
Daniel Joseph Sheehan (1894-1917), his brother, was killed serving with the Royal Flying Corps on 10 May 1917.
(1880-1917), his uncle, Sergeant with was killed in the Battle of Passchendaele on 31 July 1917.

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