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CORPORAL WALTER HERBERT MARSHALL
was born in Philadelphia on March 15, 1921. An only child, he grew up at
210 West Browning Road in Collingswood NJ, where his father was a
cashier at the First National Bank of West Collingswood, member of the
school board, and was a past president of the Rotary Club. He entered Dickinson College in
Carlisle PA in September 1939 after his graduation from Collingswood
High School in Collingswood NJ. As a member of Dickinson' class of 1943, "Red"
was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, participated in the
International Club, and worked on the Microcosm. He also
took advantage of the College's accelerated program, graduating with his
bachelor of arts degree on January 24, 1943. He then joined
sixteen other Dickinson men in the first group to leave in a body for
the armed services, assigned to Camp Lee, Virginia.
Marshall trained at Miami Beach FL and then
was selected for technical school in photography at Lowry Field, near
Denver CO. He studied photo topography at Colorado Springs and
finished first in his class. He was offered an assignment as an
instructor but rejected this in favor of an overseas assignment with the
Intelligence Corps and was sent to the Mediterranean theater in April.
On April 20, 1944, the naval "Liberty
ship" transport S.S. Paul Hamilton, part of a large convoy,
was attacked near sunset by twenty-three Ju-88 bombers approximately 30
miles off the Coast of Cape Bengut, Algiers, in the Mediterranean Sea.
A single torpedo struck the ship, which was also carrying ammunition,
and it immediately exploded*, killing
all 508 men aboard in one of the most serious losses of life in a single
Liberty ship sinking during the war. The explosion was recorded by
Coast Guard photographer Russell Green aboard the U.S.S. Menges and
the photograph was published in Time Magazine on May 22, 1944.
Only a single body was found and recovered. "Red"
Marshall was among the 154 men of the 831st Squadron, U.S. Army Air
Corps traveling to Naples aboard the Paul Hamilton and died with
his comrades. |
