Editor’s note: The author, Steve Bailey, outreach coordinator at the Anson County Historical Society, recently accidentally discovered this article and photo about First Lt. Andrew Marshall.
Even though Andrew Daniel Marshall was born in West Virginia in 1924, his older brothers were born in Anson County in 1914 and 1916. His parents – the Rev. Levander David Marshall and Bessie Tillman – moved to West Virginia in the 1920s but moved back to Anson County by the time of the 1940 census.
The Messenger-Intelligencer (Wadesboro) issue of Thursday, Oct. 19, 1944, page 8, reads:
“In Megara, Greece, on October 14, 1944, the only American able to beat the Nazi’s was First Lieutenant Andrew D. Marshall, African American pilot from Wadesboro NC who had to ‘crash land’ his P-11 plane seven days ago while on a ‘Strafing Mission.’ (Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons.)
“The natives of Megara, Greece, hid First Lieutenant Marshall in the hills and several days ago he was rescued by several hundred inhabitants of the village. Lieutenant Marshall is a son of the Reverend L. D. Marshall who is Pastor of Harris Chapel AME Zion Church in Morven NC. After finishing high school, Marshall entered the Army-Air Force School at Tuskegee, Alabama, where he received his wings and his commission as Lieutenant and was sent to Italy early this year. While living in Wadesboro First Lieutenant Marshall was employed by the A&P Store on South Greene Street.”
In the photo, taken in October 1944, Marshall tells an American pilot of the 51st Carrier Wing of his harrowing escape from the Nazis. He only suffered bruises and cuts. The photo’s on file at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Marshal died on Dec. 30, 1945, in Bavaria, Germany, and was buried at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery & Memorial Cemetery in Lazio, Italy.