2nd Lt. Martin Christian Hoyer Jr. was born in Abbeville, South Carolina, on June 13, 1921, to Martin C. Hoyer Sr. and Ethel F. Allread-Hoyer and had two brothers. The family resided at 518 South Eighth Avenue in Maywood, Illinois, and he graduated from Proviso Township High School in 1939. After high school, he worked for the Stewart Warner Company, in Chicago, as a parts inspector. On February 16, 1942, he registered with Selective Service and named his mother as his contact person. It appears that during this time that his parents moved to Richmond, California. Martin married, but all that is known about his wife was her first name was Mary.
Knowing that he would be drafted into the US Army, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps on March 13, 1942, in Chicago, as a private, and was issued the serial number 16 058 436. He tested and qualified as an aviation cadet and trained at various bases, but the exact order of when he was assigned to each airfield is not known. He trained at: Santa Ana Airfield, California, Ontario Airfield, California, Minter Airfield, California, and finally at Roswell Airfield, New Mexico., where he received his wings and was commissioned a second lieutenant. He received the serial number O 735 379. He was sent to Smoky Hill Airfield, California and was assigned to a B-17. While he was being processed to be sent to Europe, his orders were changed and he was reassigned to Blythe Airfield, California, as a pilot instructor on B-24 Bombers.
It was while doing his job as a instructor that the B-24 he was on, with eight other men, was reported to have crashed on August 16, 1943. All on board died in the crash near Garnet, California. A memorial service was held at the Wilson & Kratzer Chapel, Richmond, California, on August 23, 1943, and his casket was committed in the Sunset View Mausoleum, Kensington, California.
