David Marshall cringes when he watches the Battle of the Bulge episode of Band of Brothers. Why? Because he was there. The 101-year-old World War II veteran spoke at the National Museum of American Jewish Military History this Memorial Day. The crowd gathered to ask Marshall questions about his long life of service. Marshall, with a friendly and matter-of-fact demeanor, started out with his Jewish upbringing in New York City, his parents from Russia. “[My mother] did everything possible to keep me out [of the Army], and if she did, we never would’ve won the war,” he joked. Marshall was drafted at 18 years old and was eager to join his friends.
The Army first sent him to an engineering program at Drexel University, but he was soon called up to Camp Claiborne in Louisiana when the United States invaded Africa in 1942. Marshall described training as “difficult, but good, and that’s why I’m sitting here right now.” After training, he was called to serve in Europe with the 84th Infantry Division. Marshall sailed with his battalion from the New York harbor to South Hampton, England, then Omaha Beach in France, and finally to the Netherlands. From there, they attacked Germany. “We were up in Germany at that time, there was relatively heavy fighting, and all of a sudden, we got on trucks and they started driving us,” Marshall described. “Where are we going? We don’t know.”
Where they were going was Belgium; Marshall’s battalion arrived at night and began digging foxholes. “I think for the first time, we really felt fear,” Marshall said about that night, and the Battle of the Bulge. Soldiers are always afraid, Marshall explained, but are trained to hide it. “That night we were scared…We fought hard, the Germans fought hard too, and we persevered.” Marshall looks back on that time with pride, in himself and his service for his country. Marshall mentioned a History channel documentary made about the Battle of the Bulge, saying, “When I see it, my heart just beats hard. That was me. I was there.”
Although Marshall spoke proudly about his time in service, he also touched on the emotional and psychological difficulties many veterans face. “There are parts I don’t remember—that I do not want to remember—because I saw friends fall.” He spoke about one friend in particular whose grave he still goes to visit every few years in the Netherlands. “He was a devout Catholic boy. I was not a religious Jew, but I was Jewish. And we became very good friends.” While Marshall describes himself not as religious, but as Jewish, he foremost describes himself as an American. “I was an American soldier, pure and simple. I was fighting for my country and to stay alive.” Although he mentioned a couple antisemitic incidents during training, Marshall emphasized that during majority of his time in service, he was seen by his fellow soldiers simply as an American.
And as an American soldier, Marshall’s battalion was one to liberate a small concentration camp near Hamburg, Germany. He described in vivid detail walking up to the fence and hitting an odor. “I opened the gate, and one man walked out. He walked about 7 steps and dropped dead.” Although disturbed by the memory, Marshall was still able to make the story somewhat lighthearted, joking (or maybe not) that the German soldiers were lucky they weren’t there that night because they would’ve been dead.
Following the war, Marshall returned to school, married, and had two daughters—and he’s now a great-grandfather! Over 80 years after the Battle of the Bulge, Marshall continues to tell his story. Just last year, he received a medal in Bastogne, Belgium, pinned by the mayor, who said to him, “Thank you for my freedom.” Marshall also has a Bronze Star Medal, the French Legion of Honor Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Media, a Presidential Unit Citation, and the WWII Victory Medal. Though his highest honor, in his eyes, is the Combat Infantry Badge, awarded only to infantrymen who served in active ground combat. He feels great pride in having served on the front lines with his fellow soldiers. “I see anybody wearing it, he’s my buddy,” Marshall said.
Marshall was introduced by Sarah Birnbach, the daughter of his best friend and fellow soldier. “For the soldiers who survived the war, it was just being in the right place at the right time,” she said. Though Marshall, at 101 years old, is still active. He maintains a healthy lifestyle, going to the gym three times a week. In fact, he plans to travel to Normandy for the anniversary of D-Day and to go skydiving this fall.