PFC Marshall Theodore Hartley, Jr (WWII)


Remembering PFC Marshall Theodore Hartley, Jr (Rachel/Mannington)

October 28, 1924 - December 25, 1944

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PFC Marshall Theodore Hartley, Jr (Service #35756644) was born in Rachel, WV on October 28, 1924, the son of Marshall "Peck" and Etta Pearl (Rice) Hartley.

In 1930, their family lived on Mods Run Road in Rachel, where Peck worked as a truck driver for the coal mine. Somewhere between 1935 and 1940, they moved to 411 James Street in Mannington (1940 Census). Peck was a "Chuck Weightman" for Jones Collieries in Rachel (1940 Census). 

Military Service:

Marshall entered the draft on December 18, 1942 at age 18. A student, he was 5'11" and 160 lbs, with blue eyes, brown hair, and light skin. Marshall attended three years of high school, most likely at Mannington High School (Enlistment Records).  He enlisted in Clarksburg, WV on June 18, 1943.

He was a member of the 8th Infantry Division, 13th Infantry Regiment, Company C. The U.S. Army historians write in Eighth Infantry Division, a combat history by regiments and special units: "Building efficient all-around defenses, the Division held its positions firmly during the powerful German counter-drive in mid-December. On 21 December, with a bleak Christmas in the offing, elements of the Division began a limited offensive, seizing the Roer River town of Obermaubach and the remaining enemy-held territory in the Division sector west of the Roer. Well after a New Year's that had been as bleak as Christmas, the Division continued to hold" (pg 9).

From December 25, 1944 (or December 23, according to the newspaper) to January 17, 1945, PFC Marshall Hartley, Jr. was considered MIA (IDPF). His now declassified Report of Burial states that Marshall died December 25, 1944 in Bergstein Germany, and was buried January 6, 1945 at the U.S. Military Cemetery in Margraten, Holland (now known as the Netherlands American Cemetery." Bergstein, Germany is near the edge of the Hürtgen Forest.
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Legacy and Survivors:

Initially interred in the Netherlands American Cemetery, PFC Marshall Hartley was laid to rest at the Mannington Cemtery in the fall of 1948. 

He is honored on the "Marion County Veterans Killed in Action" Memorial at Veterans Square in Fairmont, WV, and at the  West Virginia Veterans Memorial in Charleston, WV. 

Marshall was survived by his parents and younger brother, James Hartley. Born in 1932, James was too young to serve in WWII, but later served in the U.S. Air Force.



Sources and More Information:

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