Marshall, Bert Wilder, Jr.

[HARD_Sarge]

Hi Guys
this guy has me confused, does anyone have some info on him or where I could find out some more about him ?

I show him in the 355th FG (little friends has a number of pics of him and his P-51)

but a couple lists of the pilots of the 355th do not show him as being an Ace, but I see that he shot down 7 planes and also had 3 ground kills, so he should be in the lists

(what I am thinking is he may of transfered into the 355th and had gain his Ace Status in another unit ?)

any help in unconfusing me would be very welcome

thanks

Ron

[John Beaman]

Frank Olynyk's book, Stars and Bars, is generally considered definitive for American WWII aces. He shows Wilder with the 503rd FS and eventually the 355th FG HQ. He shows Wilder with 7 credits between June 6, 1944 and September 11, all with the 503rd. Frank does not show ground kills as they are not recognised by the USAF's Fighter Victory Credits Board in 1957.

Frank frequents this Board so perhaps he will comment.

[HARD_Sarge]

Thank you

screwy list I was looking at, most of the pilots who had kills with other units, it is also listed in there totals, but for this guy was not listed at all, but I was able to find him in the kill lists, but not the unit he had gotten them with

thanks for clearing it up for me

Stars and Bars, will look for it

(LOL, the other 3 books, I been looking for, I found used, for 129.00, 175.00 and 450.00, so not doing too good when it comes to finding what I am looking for)

eeck, found one for 216.00, oh well, guess I am going to have to keep asking dumb questions for a while

[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

[HARD_Sarge]

Thank you Sir, very interesting info

a shame he is not as well known as some of the others, he sounds like he was a great guy

[drgondog]

My avatar is Jane VII WR-B 44-72953, the last Mustang he flew combat in although he later commanded the 35FBW in Japan before the Korean War.

This ship and his first (a P-51B-7 43-6457) also survived the war, but salvaged in August 45.

Regards,

Bill Marshall