Frank Marshall was born on February 2, 1949 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up in North Philly, where life revolved around the neighborhood corner — large groups of kids who looked out for each other, went to dances across the city, and cruised around in cars. Frank drove a ‘65 GTO and was more interested in meeting girls at the dances than getting into fights.
“I was one of them scared guys and did not like to fight.”
He graduated from Dobbins High School and went to work in printing, advancing through several shops. In the late 1960s, the draft was taking young men from every block in the neighborhood. When his number came up on January 14, 1969, Frank went without argument.
“When I got drafted, I just said OK and went. I didn’t really know too much about Vietnam. It just didn’t phase me.”
His mother, who had watched his father survive Pearl Harbor during World War II, was more upset than Frank was. His father had served alongside the author James Jones — whose novel From Here to Eternity drew on the real men in that company. Frank’s father appears in the book as “Friday” (Salvatore Clark), the name his Army buddies actually used for him.
Frank received Basic Training at Fort Bragg, Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Dix, and then began but did not complete NCOC training at Fort Benning. In October 1969 he was shipped to Vietnam and assigned to the 101st Airborne Division — Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry, 1st Platoon.
He found himself among men who seemed older and more together than their years suggested. His squad — Koger, Webster, Evans, Janezic, and the others — were steady. Frank trusted them. He never pretended to be anything other than what he was: a young man from Philadelphia trying to do his time and come home.
“I kind of call myself dumb over there, cause I just was there. I was not a leader… I didn’t want to be a hero, I didn’t want to fight, I just wanted to do my time and come home.”
On March 12, 1970, Alpha Company led the assault to open Firebase Ripcord, 20 miles northwest of Hue. It was a hot LZ from the moment the helicopters touched down. The company suffered heavy casualties that first day. Frank was in 4th Platoon, which lost its lieutenant and his RTO in the fighting. With the platoon badly understrength from the wounded, the decision was made to disband it. Frank and his squad were transferred to Lieutenant Joliet’s 1st Platoon, where they would remain for the rest of the battle.
On June 8th, during an ambush, Frank sustained shrapnel wounds to his back. After several days at the hospital in Da Nang, he returned to his company.
By July 22nd, Alpha Company had been reduced to 76 men by the steady toll of the battle. That morning Frank was in the field with Floyd Alexander, Lieutenant Widjeskog’s platoon nearby, and Captain Hawkins commanding. When the NVA struck, Frank was wounded three separate times in the course of the six-hour battle — shrapnel to his arm, shrapnel to his leg, and burns to his face. He spent the next six weeks in the hospital and convalescent center before returning to his company. He was discharged from the Army on October 10, 1970.
Frank has thought a great deal about friendship over the years — the friends from the neighborhood, from the veterans organizations, from decades of going out and meeting people. None of it compares to what was formed in the field.
“These friends I have met over my lifetime, I spent a lot of time with some of them. A few hours a day or once a week. But the friendship or bonding could never be the same as that I made with the guys I spent 24 hours a day with for months through the fun, fear and trauma we shared together. I’ll never be as close or respect anyone as I do them.”
In 1985, six members of his Alpha Company squad got together down the Jersey Shore in Seaside, New Jersey — Ron Janezic, Joe Evans, Jim Aanonsen, Carl Dykstra, George Westerfelt, their families, and Frank. The reunion made the New Jersey newspaper. One of the men starting the Ripcord Association read the story, called Frank, and he became one of the first 13 founding members. He has been part of the Association ever since.
Back in Philadelphia, Frank returned to roofing and eventually started his own roofing business in 1979. In 1994 he became a commercial roofing sales consultant. In 1999 he earned his Pennsylvania and New Jersey real estate licenses and became a successful agent with Prudential Fox and Roach in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. In 2015 he retired, met a wonderful woman named Dee, and moved to Surfside Beach, South Carolina. They married in 2018 and are living a great life at the beach.
Along the way, Frank dedicated years to serving his fellow veterans in Philadelphia. He was a member of “The Last Patrol” fundraising effort for the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial, founded the Great American Duck Race for the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service Center, and chaired the Philadelphia Veterans Fair. He organized concerts featuring Gary U.S. Bonds, The Drifters, The Marvelettes, The Coasters, and others to raise funds for the memorial. He served as newsletter editor for VVA Chapter #266 and the Philadelphia United Veterans Council, and held positions including Past Commander of the United Veterans Council.
In 2013, Frank received the Distinguished Member of the Regiment (DMOR) of the 506th Infantry at Fort Campbell — the same honor that Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg received as Honorary Members of the Regiment in 2016.
Today Frank serves as Vice President of the FSB Ripcord Association, and is the driving force behind this website — built to honor the 138 men killed at Firebase Ripcord and to make sure no one who served there is ever forgotten.
Bronze Star with “V” Device • Bronze Star • Purple Heart — two awards • Air Medal — two awards
Veterans service awards include the 1986 Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial Distinguished Service Award, the Chapel of Four Chaplains Legion of Honor Award, the Gold Star Mothers Appreciation Award, the Philadelphia United Veterans Council Commander’s Award of Recognition, and the National VVA Organization Appreciation Award, among many others.
