[drgondog]

Sarge - I may be the ranking authority on Bert Wilder Marshall, Jr.

First - he flew all of his missions in the 355th FG.

Second - he was the fastest ace in the group from 1st combat mission to 5 in the air - the next closest was Henry Brown with twice the time to 5...

He went from #4 to 354FS CO in 45 days. He went on to become Deputy Group CO behind Ev Stewart in another 45 days.

He was a major for only 6 weeks.

He was the first USAAF pilot rescued behind enemy lines (Priest piggy back pick up 18 August, 1944)

He led the last 8th AF Shuttle Mission - Fighter escort - to drop supplies over Warsaw to the Polish underground.

He had 4 Mustangs crippled or shot down by flak badly damaged enough to only be able to make belly landings.

He was the only 3 time all state quarterback in Texas High School history, a Collier's All American Tailback at Vanderbilt University. The guy he beat out every year in high school was Davey O'Brien.

He was my best man at my wedding. I really miss him.

Now to your other question: Frank essentially has everything correct - but some of the a/c serial numbers are off... and he received the Polish Cross of Valour as well as the French Croix de Guerre to add to the SS, DFC (3), AM (13)

He scored 7-0-1 air and 3-3 ground although the ground score originally was 4-2 before the final 8th AF VCB published after the war.

Let me know if there is anything else you want to know?


Dragondog - aka Bill Marshall