From War Hero to Businessman

By Lauren Perry

Martin Tanne

April 28, 1925 - March 3, 2016

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Martin and his mother (Credit: Honor Bell Foundation)[46]

Martin Tanne, raised by his widowed mother Bertha,[1] was born on April 28, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York.[2] It was the early 1920s, just after the Russian Revolution, that the “First Wave” of Russian immigrants made their way to the Unites States. In New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan housed many Russian neighborhoods.[3] Unfortunately, at that same time, many Americans were worried about a communist revolution and took their fear out on Russian immigrants. In New York alone, over 5,000 Russian-Americans were arrested.[4] Yet in spite of these circumstances, many Russian immigrants were able to start new professions in urban centers such as New York.[5] Martin’s mother, a Russian immigrant naturalized in 1938,[6] did just that. She opened and ran her own beauty salon in New York to support Martin and his younger sister Phoebe.[7]

When he was in high school, Martin and a friend turned on the radio and heard the devastating news about Pearl Harbor. It was then, at only 16 years old, Martin signed up for the Merchant Marine Radio Operator School to train to work on merchant ships during World War II.[8] However, as he turned 18, Martin decided to directly enlist in the U.S. Army with only three years of high school completed.[9] He felt he had to join the cause any way he could.[10] During the war, Martin used the skills learned as a radio operator to rise to the rank of TEC4 in Infantry Communications, meaning he held the honor of Sergeant as a technician on the front lines.[11]

Martin remained on Active Duty in the reserves throughout the course of the war thanks to the Thomason Act,[12] which allowed for more reserves to join active duty.[13] He served four campaigns on the front lines in North Africa and Italy.[14] With the 34th Infantry Division,[15] Martin and his fellow soldiers were part of the North African Invasion, fighting their way through Algiers and Tunisia to liberate North Africa from Axis control based in Sicily.[16] Within the 34th, he joined the 168th regiment which sent him to Brindisi, Italy, just 15 minutes from a German air base.[17] By 1944, Martin was destined for the Anzio beachhead,[18] which turned out to be a great success for the Allies. Although Martin’s ship was shelled during their arrival on the beach,[19] they were able to quickly take control of the beach several miles inland before nightfall.[20] Martin spent the next several months patrolling the beaches at night, living in dugouts within the Allied trenches, and continuing his work as a radio operator.[21]

Martin’s unit was next engaged in the Battle for Rome,[22] which was deemed essential for an Allied victory in Italy.[23] Although the initial landing in Anzio was a success, the Germans caught on quickly and were able to stall the troops’ movements from Anzio to Rome. There were heavy casualties on both sides, but German resistance began to falter once again and the Allies pushed through towards Rome.[24] Rome was captured on June 5th, 1944 but its success is usually overshadowed by the famous Normandy invasion, only a day later.[25] This victory over an Axis capital was critical for pushing the Germans out of Italy.[26]

Near the end of the war, Martin and a fellow soldier were stationed at an observation post in an abandoned church during the Battle of Po Valley when they suddenly were spotted by German soldiers. As they were dodging bullets and locating targets, Martin radioed the location of the Germans to his battalion and because of his quick thinking and radio training they were able to quickly mobilize and successfully fight off the surprise attack.[27] The Po Valley campaign signaled the conclusion of the war in the Mediterranean theater. Although Italy wasn’t in the limelight during the later years of the war, the Allied troops there were highly successful in their campaigns and operations. They fought through dangerous mountains with hazardous weather conditions and managed to defeat the Axis control in Italy.[28]

The war in Italy was bloody and desperate. Much of the supplies and manpower had been sent to aid troops in Northwest Europe and the Pacific, leaving troops in Italy outnumbered and short on provisions.[29] They were fighting an experienced veteran enemy fully prepared to fight in the rough Italian mountains in winter. Martin Tanne’s 34th Division was fighting alongside the 10th Mountain Division, known for their intense training in the Rocky Mountains, until near the end of the war, when the 34th was able to mobilize along the highways.[30] The job of a radioman would be to relay commands or messages from the frontlines back to higher-ranked officers.[31] For Martin, it was critical that he quickly and efficiently update his commanding officers on the movements of not just his own unit, but the enemy as well. In such a rugged terrain where it was difficult to track the enemy, this was a critical role. For his acts of bravery and heroism during the war, Martin, only 20 years old, received one purple Heart, two Bronze Stars, a European African-Middle East Company medal, a combat medal, the Army Good Conduct medal, the Croix du Guerre medal, and a World War II Victory medal as well as the rank of three-stripe Sergeant Technician Grade 4.[32]

When he returned home after the war, Martin, short on work, took a position at his uncle’s meat company in New York where he discovered his talent for sales and marketing.[33] This led him to a sales position at Armour and Company,[34] one of the leading companies in the meat packing industry. While still in New York, Martin married Gilda Zucker in August of 1946.[35]

By 1960, Martin, Gilda and their three children, Lynne, Lewis and Lisa, were living in Denver, Colorado.[36] His background in meat sales[37] led Martin into the Colorado meat packing industry where his talent for marketing led him to found his own business: Martin Meat Company. He was the first to sell meat to United Airlines and Vail, prior to the interstate.[38] In 1968, the many meat processing and packaging companies in Denver came together to form the Colorado Meat Dealers Association. As head of Martin Meat Co. and now a leading name in the meat packing industry, Martin Tanne was elected to the board of directors.[39] He later spearheaded a petition to rezone the meat packaging plant in order to gain more land and thus improve his business and the industry as a whole.[40] After 10 years of running his wildly successful company, Martin sold it to his partner, and began working in the restaurant business, again using his keen marketing and sales background to be a manager and consultant for Big Boy Restaurants, a large restaurant chain.[41]

In 1979, Martin and Gilda divorced.[42] Less than a year later, he remarried to Gail Miller[43] and between her and his previous marriage had five children, and eventually four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.[44] Martin Tanne passed away at the age of 90. In 2016, his family donated his Purple Heart to the Honor Bell, which used his medal, along with the memorabilia of 11 other veterans to cast a bell, literally and figuratively forged from honor. His legacy lives on in the bell which tolls for veterans buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery.[45]

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Footnotes ↓

[1] “1940 Unites States Federal Census for Martin Tanne,” entry for Martin Tanne, database, accessed July 9, 2020, https://records.myheritagelibraryedition.com/.

[2] “Phillips Family Tree: Martin Tanne’s LifeStory,” entry for Martin Tanne, database, accessed July 9, 2020, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[3] “Russian Americans in New York,” Wikipedia, accessed July 30, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Americans_in_New_York_City#:~:text=The%20New%20York%20Tri%2DState,living%20in%20New%20York%20City.&text=Brighton%20Beach%2C%20Brooklyn%20continues%20to,for%20the%20Russian%20American%20experience.

[4] “Polish/Russian Immigration,” Library of Congress, accessed July 30, 2020, https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/polish3.html

[5] “Russians and East Europeans in America,” Harvard, accessed August 7, 2020, https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~gstudies/russia/lessons/backgd.htm

[6] “US Naturalization Records Indexes 1794-1995,” entry for Bertha Tanne, database, accessed July 13, 2020, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[7] “1940 Unites States Federal Census for Martin Tanne,” entry for Martin Tanne, database, accessed July 9, 2020, https://records.myheritagelibraryedition.com/.

[8] Crystal Anderson, “WWII Vet of Arvada shares stories of battles, life,” Golden Transcript, December 15, 2015, NewsBank.

[9] “US WWII Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946,” entry for Martin Tanne, database, accessed July 9, 2020, https://www.familysearch.org/search/.

[10] Anderson, “WWII Vet of Arvada.”

[11] Ibid.; “US Army Rank Structure During WWII,” World War II Tracings, accessed July 13, 2020. https://wwiitracings.wordpress.com/about/u-s-army-rank-structure-during-wwii/.

[12] “US WWII Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946,” entry for Martin Tanne, database, accessed July 9, 2020, https://www.familysearch.org/search/.

[13] “Biennial Reports of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, July 1, 1939, to June 30, 1941 to the Secretary of War,” Biennial Reports of the Chief of Staff of the US Army, accessed July 13, 2020, https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/COS-Biennial/COS-Biennial-1.html.

[14] Anderson, “WWII Vet of Arvada.”

[15] Ibid.

[16] “34th Infantry Division,” US Army Center of Military History, accessed July 13, 2020, https://history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/cbtchron/cc/034id.htm.

[17]Anderson, “WWII Vet of Arvada.”

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid.

[20] “Anzio 1944,” US Army Center of Military History, accessed July 13, 2020, https://history.army.mil/brochures/anzio/72-19.htm.

[21] Anderson, “WWII Vet of Arvada.”

[22] Ibid.

[23] “Rome-Arno 1944,” US Army Center of Military History, accessed July 13, 2020, https://history.army.mil/brochures/romar/72-20.htm.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid.

[27]Anderson, “WWII Vet of Arvada.”

[28] “Rome-Arno 1944,” US Army Center of Military History, accessed July 13, 2020., https://history.army.mil/brochures/romar/72-20.htm.

[29] “Po Valley 1945,” US Army Center of Military History, accessed July 13, 2020, https://history.army.mil/brochures/po/72-33.htm.

[30] Ibid.

[31] “Signaller,” Wikipedia, accessed July 30, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signaller.

[32]Anderson, “WWII Vet of Arvada.”

[33] Ibid.

[34] “Martin Tanne’s Honor Bell Artifacts,” Honor Bell Foundation, accessed June 23, 2020, https://www.honorbell.org/news?tag=artifact%20stories.

[35] “New York City Marriage License Index 1908-1972,” entry for Martin Tanne, database, accessed July 9, 2020, https://records.myheritagelibraryedition.com/.

[36] “US Public Records Index,” entry for Martin Tanne, database, accessed July 9, 2020, https://records.myheritagelibraryedition.com/.

[37] “US City Directories,” Denver, Colorado, 1960, entry for Martin Tanne, database, accessed July 9, 2020, https://records.myheritagelibraryedition.com/.

[38]Anderson, “WWII Vet of Arvada.”

[39] “Meat Dealers Form Group,” The Denver Post, February 5, 1968, NewsBank.

[40] “Zoning Change Allows Meat Plant Expansion,” The Denver Post, January 27, 1971, NewsBank.

[41] Anderson, “WWII Vet of Arvada.”

[42] “Colorado Divorces, 1878-2004,” entry for Martin Tanne, database, accessed July 9, 2020, https://records.myheritagelibraryedition.com/.

[43] “Colorado Marriages, 1975-2004,” entry for Martin Tanne, database, accessed July 9, 2020, https://records.myheritagelibraryedition.com/.

[44] Anderson, “WWII Vet of Arvada.”

[45] “Martin Tanne’s Honor Bell Artifacts,” Honor Bell Foundation, accessed June 23, 2020, https://www.honorbell.org/news?tag=artifact%20stories.

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