Lt. Felix M. Marshall
Need info. on Felix M. Marshall (Born Approx. 1910)(404th Signal Commander--1942)--Thanks--Denzel
To command the newly-formed company, the Second Air Force selected Felix M. Marshall, who was a 2nd Lt. assigned to the 404th Signal Company, Aviation. However, since the date of his promotion was retroactive to 1 February 1942, Lt. Marshall was actually a First Lieutenant at the time he took command in late February.
The task facing the new commanding officer was not an easy one. Reduced to an absolute minimum, it required getting the necessary personnel, the necessary equipment, and training for combat. Looking at the vacant walls of the company's new barracks in those early days, the fulfillment of the essentials seemed quite remote. But what probably was the most complicated factor to which Lt. Marshall had to be reconciled was the relative novelty of a radio intelligence company. It soon became apparent that there was not a great deal of background material to assist the novitiate commanding officer in setting up his company. There was a paucity of literature on the subject, a dearth of standard procedures, a minimum of guidance.
Nevertheless, Lt. Marshall was particularly well suited for the new and tenuous task. He knew army methods; he knew the problems of both the Signal Corps and the Air Corps, and he had trained rigorously under combat conditions. A regular Army soldier of some thirteen years experience, Marshall had served with the engineers in Panama for three hears; he had received intensive training in -communications in the Coast Artillery Corps, and had for years been a radio operator in fixed stations arid as a member of combat crews of the Air Corps. At Langley Field, Virginia, Marshall gained his experience as the Air Corps grew out of its short trousers. After he received his commission in the
Signal Corps Reserve in 1941, Marshall went through the Louisiana Maneuvers, and thereafter was assigned to the 404th Signal Company, Aviation at Fort George Wright.
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1/29/2005