A day before Independence Day, the Brown County Commissioners took a moment to honor a local veteran and name the day in his honor.
July 3, 2019, was declared Hank Marshall Day.
The meeting room at Veterans Hall also was renamed as Hank Marshall Hall.
“Commissioners, citizens, fellow veterans, thank you very much. I don’t know how I feel,” Marshall said at the meeting.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“I hope, in the future, you don’t look up at that sign in the Veterans Hall and say ‘We made the biggest mistake,’” he added, as the room erupted in laughter.
Members of the audience assured him they wouldn’t be sorry.
About 15 veterans attended to hear the proclamation. Marshall, a former commander of the Brown County Vietnam Veterans and longtime volunteer for veterans causes, took time to introduce and speak about each one.
“I’ve always said I enjoy being a veteran and I like to be with them,” he said.
“I want every veteran to feel good about his or herself and his or her service. Right or wrong, over or under, we did the best we knew how to do.”
He hopes that people who see his name on the sign — veterans or not — feel good about what they’ve done in life, too.
“When you see this and see my sign out there, that’s what I hope you think of, not that Hank Marshall did anything — he didn’t do anything — but feel good about yourself, feel good about your endeavors,” he said.
Helping vets
Six months before his 60th birthday, Marshall walked into the Veterans Affairs office to ask Service Officer Ron Higgins for help in securing his retirement benefits.
Marshall served 30 years in the military. He flew helicopter missions during his time in Vietnam.
“Our task was to fly about anything that had to go or come back about anywhere in Vietnam,” Marshall said of his service. “We called it ‘hash and trash flying’ and it consisted of (flying) troops including America and Vietnamese, news correspondents, equipment, documents including ‘top secret’ ones, radio gear going to or returning from repair, mail pay, and VIPs. If it had to go, we probably flew it.”
Higgins helped Marshall get the documents he needed and made sure he was receiving the benefits he was entitled to.
“I was flabbergasted by the amount. Staying in the reserves, completing 30 years, had just become one of the easiest decisions I’d ever made in my life,” Marshall said.
Soon, Marshall was volunteering with local veteran groups. Previously he had joined the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He joined each organization as “state at-large,” which is membership not with a particular post. “I simply carried cards and could enter posts for food, facilities and information when I traveled,” he said.
Marshall also worked for years as a tour bus driver, taking groups to different sites in the country, like Washington, D.C.
One year, at the Spring Blossom Parade, Marshall spoke with a veteran who invited him to a monthly meeting at Veterans Hall — the place that would later be named in his honor. He attended American Legion and VFW meetings there, but sat mostly as a quiet observer.
He heard that the Brown County Honor Guard — the group that performs military honors at veterans’ funerals — needed help, so he stepped up.
He also volunteered to drive veterans to appointments at various clinics and hospitals.
One evening, Higgins and Marshall attended a meeting in Martinsville about support for post-traumatic stress disorder patients. Soon, Marshall began training and received certification at the VA Hospital in Indianapolis to tackle this issue many veterans face today.
Marshall became a Vet to Vet coordinator, a support group for veterans.
He also served on the VA Hospital’s Veterans Mental Health Advisory Council.
From there, Marshall was elected commander of the Brown County Vietnam Veterans.
“The Vietnam era was my era, and I felt that the Vietnam Vets needed an advocate and representation responding practically to these individual situations,” he said.
He also was commander of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 2 in Bedford, a member of the American Huey 369 organization, and a member of American Legion Post 13 and VFW Post 6195 in Nashville.
“I was retired. I had a passion and no other obligations on my time,” Marshall said about his involvement with multiple organizations.
Getting veterans the benefits they deserve is a passion of Marshall’s, along with making sure veterans feel proud of their service.
“In many cases, (veterans) are not receiving them (benefits) because they don’t know how to apply for them, or don’t feel they are worthy of them or don’t know about them,” he said.
“As informed veterans, we must continually reach out and search for our sisters and brothers who are eligible for benefits but are not receiving them, regardless of reason.”
An adventure
When Marshall was in high school, he was traveling the B & O Railroad headed to St. Louis, Missouri, when the conductor asked him if he wanted a tour of the entire train.
“I eagerly accepted,” he said.
In the baggage car stood a young soldier in his new, dress-green uniform.
“This young man was probably only two or three years older than I was, and he was a soldier. I looked at him and thought, ‘How cool,’” Marshall said.
“He was a member of the United States Armed Forces traveling from training to who knows where. To me, this looked like an adventure and I wanted to be a part of it.”
Marshall finished high school and completed three years of college. The Vietnam conflict had been going for years in late 1967 when Marshall joined the Army. He was shipped to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for basic training.
“I just wanted to see where my adventure might take me,” he said.
Halfway through basic training, Marshall was offered the opportunity to sign up for helicopter flight training. After completing 10 months of training in Alabama and Texas, Marshall was awarded the Army silver aviator wings and was promoted to warrant officer before being sent to Vietnam.
While in Vietnam, Marshall accepted the promotion of officer commission and returned to Fort Knox for armor officer basic training after the completion of his Vietnam tour.
After seven years of active duty in the Army, Marshall went to National Guard duty.
He moved to Richmond, Kentucky, to attend Eastern Kentucky University and finish his education. While there, he spent 15 years in the Kentucky National Guard where he flew, recruited and commanded.
Marshall had been living in Bedford, Indiana, and commuting to Kentucky. After his time in Kentucky, he joined an official unit in Bedford.
All in all, he served for 37 1/2 years with the military.
“Military service was an adventure. Oh sure, it often wasn’t easy. It often was frustrating. The service was always challenging,” he said.
“The military always wants the individual to just be just a little bit better than he wants to be. They want each person to reach just a little bit more, try a little harder, learn just a little bit longer, stay just a little bit longer, but at the end of the day, there is always adventure.”
Marshall said the common experiences of enlistment, training, successes and failures bring military members together. “It’s just understood. This is called camaraderie, and it binds military persons together.”
Dedicated
Naming the Veterans Hall meeting room after Marshall had been talked about for quite some time, said Dave Pate, the veterans outreach, support liaison and office manager for the local Veterans Service Office.
Last month, the new name was revealed.
“It’s hard to get him (Hank) speechless. He was at a loss for words,” Pate said.
Under Marshall’s leadership, the local Vietnam veterans group membership grew from about three or four people to around 25 and 30 members. The DAV chapter membership in Bedford also expanded.
“Hank is just a likeable guy,” Pate said.
“We can all get caught up in the negatives. I’m like him, I would rather be looking up. But that’s what Hank brings to his commitment and love to the veterans is, ‘Be happy.’”
Pate is now commander of the Brown County Honor Guard and Marshall was a member. Due to health issues, Marshall has had to take a step back from his volunteering, and he is missed, Pate said.
“He always held the American flag. Other guys did weapons, bugles. Hank was my guy that that, when I called it, I knew that he wanted to be on the American flag. I miss that,” Pate said.
The overall welfare of veterans is important to Marshall, which is why he has volunteered in many organizations. “He’s amazing,” Higgins said.
“He was my right-hand man. He was always there.”
Through his volunteerism with the Veterans Affairs office, Marshall became a member of the South Central Indiana Military Support Network in Columbus and Joining Community Forces in Bloomington, which was formerly the Monroe Owen Military Support Network.
The two also manned a table at Stand Down events, which are for veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, to help them find resources.
Higgins described Marshall as a lighthearted and funny, a fun person to be around.
”He knows business, he’s real good at it, but he’s not all business. (He’s a) morale builder. He is dedicated,” Higgins said.
“He would say, ‘What is most important to me is I want you to feel good about your military service as a veteran and a person.’ More than saying that, he really makes you feel that way as a person. …
“There’s just not enough of that in this world.”
