Marshall Burnett looks at the medals and patches from his service in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II that a friend had framed for him. Burnett served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during the war. Jason PattersonBy JASON PATTERSON
Editor & Publisher

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about 17-year-old Marshall Burnett’s decision to sign up for World War II is that it didn’t seem remarkable at all to him at the time.
“Every boy in my class enlisted, and the only one who didn’t serve wasn’t eligible because he had a heart defect,” Burnett recalled. “We didn’t think it was unusual. Everybody who could joined because we were at war, and we didn’t know then if we were going to win. Those were dark days. Everyone was afraid.”
But Burnett also remembers it as a time of tremendous patriotism and unity.
“You’d go to the movies and everyone would sing God Bless America,” Burnett said. “They’d put the words up on the screen. They don’t do that anymore. I don’t think our country has ever been more united.”