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515903 Flight Sergeant John Roy MARSHALL DFM 1914—1982 JR Marshall was born in Ottawa in January 1914. Growing up in the United Kingdom, he joined the RAF early, enlisting as an Aircrafthand in 1932. Of Scottish stock, by 1941 his mother was living in Scotland. His Scottish roots drew him the nickname “Jock” with 211 Squadron (if not before). I went searching for details of Jock Marshall’s DFM and RAF service some years ago but failed to find any information. When I eventually made contact with Bill Baird in 1998, it turned out that he too had gone searching: for my father, once “Nobby”...in Cambridge of course...about the time of Jock's death, a good many years ago now. From around 1979 until his death in 1982, Marshall (together with Andy Bryce’s younger brother GR Bryce, also “Jock” and also an RAF veteran) had spent some effort arranging a successful search for missing aircrew from the terrible Easter Sunday raid of 1941. The story is told in James Dunnet's magnificent Blenheim Over the Balkans. Though by then in failing health, Jock Marshall then arranged for an Easter Sunday notice to appear in Air Mail, the RAF Association journal, announcing the partial success of Bryce’s expeditions to Greece. That notice finally appeared in the Summer 1982 issue, where it was seen by James Dunnet. Sadly, JR Marshall DFM had died several weeks earlier. Barbara Marshall died in 1990. Their son Ian, not long since retired from the British Army, got in touch by email. So once more I went looking for traces of Jock’s service, to find that the principal researcher in the field had made considerable advances. Tavender’s DFM compilation in its present form is really a prodigious feat. Distinguished Flying Medal DFM recommendation AIR 2/8899 DFM Gazettal Gazette practice was that “Immediate Awards” were published with a summary of the recommendation, while “Non-immediate” awards (being rather larger in number) were kept to single line entries. Fortunately, Tavender decided to redress both these economies of description, resorting to the original Air Ministry files for the original, complete recommendations. While immediate awards were for individual acts of courage, non-immediate awards recognised sustained courage and duty. Many of these latter DFM awards were thus made in recognition of the achievement of a completed tour of operations in the RAF. In the London Gazette of 22 August 1941, Jock appeared with a number of other “non-immediate” DFM recipients, while his recommendation is recorded in AIR Class 2, Item 8899 at the UK Public Record Office (now The National Archives), as reported by Tavender. While Bomber Command practice varied around 30 operations over the course of the war, today it is hardly known that in the Middle East and Far East, tours of 50 or more operations seem to have been all too common. The early Durazzo raid of 24 November 1940 is also recorded briefly by Sgt Clark while the 6 January 1941 AA shell/tailplane incident is graphically recounted by Sgt Bill Baird. Jock Marshall’s Canadian links are recorded in the researches of Hugh Halliday into Canadian awards for RAF service as shown on the Air Force Association of Canada Honours and Awards pages, in these terms: “listed in AFRO 1292/41 dated 7 November 1941 as a Canadian in the RAF who had been decorated as of that date” . Log Book July 1940 to December 1940
Like my father’s record, Jock’s Log contains some oddities: for example, the 2 “uncounted” raids with Sgt Alcock. And in transcribing his own log, my father did not include the Western Desert raids of 18-23 September and 31 October recorded by Jock. Bill Baird has since noted that Marshall lost his log in the move from Greece and reconstructed it from Bill’s. Bill recalls the 18 September raid with Marshall as his baptism on operations (a solo raid to Tobruk, no less) and thereby confidently recalls the Observer as Sgt Cotton. While a Pilot’s Log Book records the names of other crew (2nd pilot or passengers), in the Log Books of other aircrew it is just the Pilot’s name that is the required entry. It seems that while looking at Bill’s log some 6 months later, Jock recalled the crew details not as he, Bill and Cotton but as his usual crewmates Bill and Nobby. War is not train spotting. Oddities like these arise in records and recall of every sort from this period no less than any other. Jock had started his flying in 1939 and all his overseas duty during the war was on operational flying. By March 1943, his long service as an NCO pilot was recognised, with appointment from Flight Sgt to his commission as Pilot Officer with effect from December 1942 (London Gazette Supplement 30 March). He went on to serve with 266 Squadron. Equipped with the North American B25 Mitchell for operations in the United Kingdom from May 1943, in late 1944 they moved to France. ...I have done the State some service Came June 1947 and Flight Lieutenant Marshall DFM was among those to receive the King’s permission to wear the Belgian Order of Leopold II with Palme and Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palme, conferred by HRH The Prince Regent of Belgium for valuable services rendered in connection with the liberation of that country. (London Gazette Supplement 27 June). In mid 1949, with a permanent commission as Flt Lt gazetted, there came a change of direction in transfer to the Aircraft Control Branch. The transition to a non-flying role was again rewarded in due time, advancing to Squadron Leader in 1954 (London Gazette Supplement 1 January). So his RAF service continued, much of it abroad, with stints at Hong Kong and, around the time of the Malayan Emergency, at Kuala Lumpur in a staff job with HQ Far East Land Forces. Later, with tensions high in the Aden and Yemen emergency of the mid 1960s, there was a 6 month deployment around 1962 to set up a forward radar site for the Radfan Hills area, while detached from 280 Signals Unit RAF Akrotiri.
In presentation order, left to right: Distinguished Flying Medal, 1939—1945 Star, Africa Star, France & Germany Star, Defence Medal, War Medal, General Service Medal (Malaya clasp), followed by two Belgian decorations: Chevalier of the Order of Leopold II with its blue ribbon and the Croix de Guerre, both with the Palm that indicates an award made for war service. This is a very full medal set, reflecting the breadth and depth of Jock’s service: a very considerable achievement. Having entered the service in 1932 as an Aircrafthand, Squadron Leader John Roy Marshall DFM retired from the RAF on 28 January 1964 at the age of 50, after 32 years service at home and abroad, in war and peace. Sources Dunnet J Blenheim Over the Balkans (Pentland 2001)
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