Marshall underwent basic training at Camp Pickett, Va., with the intentions of being a medic. Before being drafted, he was pursuing a chemistry degree from City College, New York. “I was not going to stay home by myself,” said Marshall, who played baseball, basketball and football in his Washington Heights’ neighborhood.īut his mother would not sign his enlistment contract. He said the reason was that his friends were joining the military. Marshall said he knew he wanted to take the “fight to the enemy” after the Pearl Harbor attack. “How good bench pressing 130 pounds is I will never know but they are all raving about it so I will take it,” continued Marshall. “I feel young, I am active and I look better than most of the other guys my age or younger. “I find (working out) very important,” said Marshall. Marshall, who was raised in northern Manhattan, said he has been going to gyms for the last 19 years, concentrating on weightlifting, walking and using back and abdomen machines. “He is very much young at heart and enjoys talking to everyone, the younger guys especially,” said Sgt. Whether I am or not, I don’t care, they say it and I am pleased.”Īn Army Reserve command career counselor from one of the Command’s down trace units, the 78th Training Division, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., was also impressed after meeting Marshall while working out. A lot of them thank me and they say I am their idol. “I am not going to be shy about it, no way, I am proud of what I did. “They have to see it and I make sure they know,” said Marshall, who has two daughters, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren. The Division later became the current Army Reserve’s 84th Training Command (Unit Readiness), Fort Knox, Ky. The patch on his cap is the Division’s “Railsplitters” insignia (an axe splitting a log). Marshall, a mortar man for Company M, 3rd Battalion, 334th Infantry Regiment, ensures every member knows he fought there. He served with the Army’s 84th Infantry Division withstanding bone-chilling winter weather and deep snow during one of the European Theater’s largest and bloodiest battles, the Battle of the Bulge. For those who know about World War II, he is even more inspiring. Naturally, Marshall’s three-day workouts would inspire members of all ages. Instead, the 89-year old David Marshall was there to work out. BALDWIN, N.Y.-Sitting near a row of exercise machines at the Synergy Fitness Club here, this senior citizen wearing black nylon pants, a sweatshirt and a red baseball cap was not waiting for his grandchild to finish his or her workout at this fitness club on this Saturday afternoon.
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