Marshall, Thomas Lees

Marshall was awarded the Légion d'Honneur (Chevalier degree) posthumously on November 11, 2011.

THOMAS L. MARSHALL on July 9th, while serving in the Italian Campaign was killed instantly by a mortar bomb which exploded directly over the small shelter in which he and some British personnel were gathered. Tom had served with the AFS since November 1942, was a veteran of the desert campaign and moved to Italy with his unit. His record of courage, faithfulness, loyalty and unselfishness will long be remembered by all who had the privilege of knowing him and serving with him.

__ AFS Letters No. 28

We had our third death in the platoon below Arezzo. Tom Marshall was killed by mortar fire while on duty with the forward infantry. We had a service for Tom the morning after his death. In a small, close-knit organization of friends, tried and true over the months together, a death---sudden, unexpected--- comes with deep impact. There is no need for words spoken one to the other. We carried Tom's body to its resting place on a stretcher, lowered it into the grave and the padre spoke the words, with the hills rising blue in the distance across the valleys "I am the resurrection and the light..." Those seemed good words and I felt somewhat as I did a few days before, when I stood inside the crypt of St. Francis' tomb at Assisi --- the crypt with its lofty dimlit arches, and its unalterable silence, the silence of a deep-felt religion, the silence of a hallowed memory, the silence in veneration of the gentle peace apostle of a bygone age, a silence far removed from the intimacy of war and one akin to a true perspective of values.

__ AFS Letters No. 30