WWII Vet. will lead parade

More than 70 years after Dave Marshall first donned his Army uniform in Europe during World War II, he will wear it once again on Monday as he leads Baldwin’s Memorial Day Parade.

Marshall, whom the Herald profiled last November, moved to Baldwin from Queens in the 1960s. The now 90-year-old and his wife, Terry, were married in 1949. The couple raised two daughters in Baldwin.

In honor of his service history, Marshall was asked to be Baldwin’s grand marshal this year — as he was last year in Oceanside. He said he was very pleased to have the title once again.

Marshall was drafted in 1943, when he turned 18, and was initially trained to be a field medic. He was then transferred to study engineering at the Drexel Institute of Technology, because the military was training engineers to help rebuild the world once the war was over, Marshall said, but the program was eventually scrapped.

In 1944 he joined the Army’s 84th Infantry Division, also known as the Railsplitters. He found himself on Omaha Beach that November, after first being deployed to England.

That winter, in Germany, the 84th Infantry got involved in one of the most important battles of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. Marshall had no idea then of the historical significance of the battle; he was simply trying to survive. For six weeks he fought German soldiers on German soil in the heart of winter, with a limited supply of warm clothes. It was difficult to dig foxholes in the frozen ground, he said, and there were few opportunities to find a home or barn in which to warm up.

But he survived the battle and the war, and met Terry in 1947.

He still works out regularly, and enjoys boasting about the fact that he can still fit into his Army uniform, which not many people his age can say.

“Dave has got both the history of landing in Europe during World War II as well as the Battle of the Bulge,” said Bob Hare, American Legion Post 246’s third vice commander. “We wanted to honor his service.”

Marshall said he expects a large turnout at Monday’s parade. “It’s a day that we should remember those who served, those who died,” he said, “and pay attention to what’s going on in the world and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Hare is planning to retire from the U.S. Coast Guard later this year, after 26 years of service, including a tour in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm. He said that military personnel who have returned from conflicts — and those who haven’t — do not get enough recognition, so it’s good to have a day in their memories. “I don’t know of anything more worthy of recognition by people in general and the community,” he said of honoring the fallen.