By Joe Hadsall

jhadsall@joplinglobe.com

As the colonel pinned the medal onto his chest, Spc. John Marshall’s brief, yet outstanding, military career came to a close.

Two years after being wounded outside Baghdad, the Joplin man was awarded the Bronze Star Medal during a ceremony Sunday at the armory for the 203rd Engineer Battalion of the Missouri Army National Guard.

“This means everything to me,” Marshall said, fighting back tears. “I was officially retired recently, so this is very emotional.”

Marshall, 40, was surrounded by friends, family members, and some of his fellow soldiers and commanders from the Missouri National Guard’s 110th Engineer Battalion. The crowd included his mother, Alice Marshall.

“He has been through a lot,” she said. “I’m so proud of him.”

Marshall served as a medic with the 110th’s C Company, based in Lexington. He was assigned primarily to route-clearance missions in Iraq in 2005 and 2006.

The Bronze Star is given to military personnel based on their entire body of work, said Jeffrey Hyde, company commander of the 110th.

“The award wasn’t related to his injury as much as it was related to his entire job,” Hyde said. “Being a medic and doing that under fire is a very difficult job.”

Sgt. Scharles Patterson served alongside Marshall in Iraq. He said Marshall had a good-natured personality and would laugh even when he was told a bad joke. He also was attentive to details when checking the medical conditions of soldiers.

“He would make sure that anyone in the platoon was good to go before they went back out,” Patterson said. “He was a good stickler for details, making sure we had recovered.”

In October of 2006, Marshall’s vehicle was struck by an enemy mortar shell. The resulting attack left injuries to his legs, back, neck and brain.

“I was told about the injury on a Wednesday, but I didn’t get to talk to him until that Friday,” Alice Marshall said. “Two days of not knowing what was going on was very hard.”

Marshall spent several weeks in intensive care, and underwent 15 surgeries and months of rehabilitation. He emerged with some hearing loss and a titanium plate in his spine, because of injuries to two discs in his neck.

In 2007, Marshall was the guest of honor at a Veterans Day ceremony. Members of his unit had to carry him on stage to receive an honor. He was on crutches and recovering from skin-graft surgery.

But on Sunday, Marshall marched on his own and stood without aid in front of Col. Mitchell Passini, who pinned the Bronze Star on Marshall’s uniform.

“This is a way we can say thanks for what Marshall did for us, and for our country,” Passini said. “It’s very important for soldiers to be recognized for what they have done.”

Other members of Marshall’s family who attended the ceremony included father Gary Marshall and brother Steven Marshall. His new wife, Amanda, whom he married on Sept. 13, and his two stepchildren also were present.

The ceremony, originally scheduled for Sept. 6, was postponed to Sunday because of the battalion’s deployment to Louisiana for hurricane relief.

Patterson said the award was well-deserved.

“This is long overdue,” he said. “I’m glad the award went to Doc. He has many rewardable traits that deserve this.”

Marshall maintained that he was just doing his job, and that he never expected to be awarded a Bronze Star.

“I wasn’t expecting to get this,” he said after the ceremony. “I can’t express how much pride I have for my country.”

Before joining the 110th, Marshall served for seven years in the Air Force, at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base in Belton.

Marshall said he plans to stay busy by volunteering for the American Red Cross, an organization that helped him recover from his injuries, and by doing his fair share of golfing and fishing.

But he said he is happiest to know that he, along with his new wife and family, has a new life ahead of him.

“I’m glad to be able to see a bright future,” he said.





Medal criteria



The Bronze Star Medal is awarded to any military personnel who “distinguish themselves by heroic or meritorious achievement or service,” according to the U.S. Armed Forces’ Institute of Heraldry.

The medal was created during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the medal in 1944 and made the criteria retroactive to Dec. 7, 1941.

Sgt. 1st Class Willis Monsess, of Springfield, also was awarded a Bronze Star during Sunday’s ceremony.