New York National Guard artilleryman SFC Jack Martilotta — Greenport Village trustee and deputy mayor — was honored by the New York National Guard at its annual St. Barbara’s Day dinner Dec. 4 in Long Island City.
Martilotta was one of six N.Y. National Guard artilleryman recognized at the event with induction into the Honorable Order of St. Barbara, an honorary society of Army and Marine Corps artillerymen.
Martilotta has been an artilleryman for his entire 15-year military career to date. He is currently platoon sergeant for the forward observers of the 69th Infantry. Forward observers support all indirect fires for the N.Y. brigade, Martilotta explained. Indirect fires are those who must fire without being able to see their targets, including cannons, mortars and helicopters.
“We’re the bridge,” Martilotta said. “They can’t see where it lands. We find the target and steer them onto it so they hit their target.”
According to the legend of St. Barbara, a third century martyr, she was executed by her own father for becoming a Christian and as soon as he killed her, he was struck and killed by lightning. St. Barbara was adopted as the patron saint of the field artillery in the late Middle Ages, when the first cannoners would appeal to her for protection, according to the Field Artillery Association. Artillery units around the world hold dinners on or close to Dec. 4, which is St. Barbara’s feast day.
Martilotta, 40, a Greenport middle school science teacher when he’s not supervising artillerymen in the 69th Infantry or helping run the Village of Greenport, said induction into the Order of St. Barbara was “quite an honor.”
“It’s a pretty exclusive club,” Martilotta said.
