George Marshall (WV)

Early Life (1914-1941)
George Marshall was born on November 20, 1914, in Hinton, West Virginia, to Albert T. Marshall Jr, and his wife, Mary Kirby. Marshall was the youngest of four children. Albert and Mary raised him in the coal mining region of Southern West Virginia. Marshall graduated top of his class at Hinton High School in 1932. Marshall worked as a mechanic, a construction worker, and a butcher during the Great Depression, and also worked on the campaign of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1940 election. In 1940, he met and married his wife, Florence Brenner while campaigning in eastern Kentucky.

Military Career (1941-1945)
Marshall joined the United States Army after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. There, he became a notable soldier in the Pacific Theater of World War II. He most famously served at the Battle of Iwo Jima where he saved the lives of two US Army soldiers about to be killed by a Japanese machine gun.

Later Career (1945-1949)
Marshall's first child, David Marshall, was born in 1942 while George was serving in World War II. His second, Mary, was born in 1949. After returning home from the war, Brown attended Harvard University where he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in economics, graduating in 1949, one year earlier than expected.