Walter H. Marshall (1921-1944)

Walter Marshall was born in Philadelphia in 1921 and entered Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in September 1939 after his graduation from Collingswood High School in Collingswood, New Jersey. As a member of the 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 wartime 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, Florida and then was selected for technical school in photography at Lowry Field, near Denver, Colorado. 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.

More information about other Dickinson war casualties can be found through the online project "In Remembrance" (see link for related entries below).