Grandaddy Marshall's WWII experience

Jason and his kids are sitting with me on the porch as we watch a storm get closer.  I had thought earlier that I should write a Memorial Day blog but didn't get around to doing that.

I told Jason and Jackson that Granddaddy Marshall (James Marshall Hawkins) had been training to be a gunner during WWII.  But that the war had ended before he was actually sent into battle.  He spent his time during the war playing basketball to entertain the troops.  He had been playing college basketball at the University of TN when the war broke out and he left school and enlisted in the Air Force in the middle of his college career.  After the war he returned to UT to play basketball.  And graduated after 1947.  I was born in 1947 and both Mom and I accompanied Dad during his final years at UT.



I wasn't absolutely positive that I remembered correctly about Dad training to be a gunner.  But Jason remembered his grandfather telling him that the gunner sat in the nose of the plane.  And that the gunner was supposed to move out of the nose when the plane landed.  But that Grandaddy Marshall had always remained in his seat to have the view of the landing from the nose.

Jason says he is not absolutely positive that the B 17 Bomber is the right plane, but the photos that I googled for the B17 are perfect to illustrate the story.





Above photos can be found on the Chattanooga Times Free Press Newspaper site:

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2017/sep/26/b-17-flying-over-chattanoogweekend/451070/