Marshall Vera Soria

a. 4 of his older siblings passed away due to the Spanish Flu before he was born

2. Emigrated to US via El Paso, Texas with parents, June 1922

3. Lived with his parents and siblings in south & central California as agricultural workers.

a. The family settled in Delano California

b. During High School, Marshall worked in the fields, but was also a track & field star

c. Some of his track records held up until the 60’s

4. Marshall married Thomasa Rojas in 1941

a. They had 8 kids, 5 boys, 3 girls

5. At age 24, Marshall joined the Army in July, 1944

a. Marshall’s younger brother, Margarito, joined the Army early 1944. He landed at Normandy with the 26th Division

b. His brother Margarito made it to the end of the WW2 hostilities in Germany

6. After his service, Marshall returned to Delano, California to continue his family life

7. Around 1950, Marshall moved the family to the San Francisco bay area.

a. He became a cement mason

b. During the 60’s, his crew was involved with the TransAmerica building in San Francisco along with numerous other

projects

8. Marshall started his own cement business late 70’s.

a. He sold his share of the business when he retired before turning 60

9. Marshall is the kind of person that would give the “shirt off his back” for anyone

10. Marshall started talking about the war in the mid 90’s

a. He started to show some interest with veteran reunions

b. He really got interested with his time in the service when daughter and son in law Dolores & Mario gifted him the

“Band of Brothers” series, He binged watched the whole series in 3 days

c. Marshall has been attending reunions Stateside and in Europe until 2 years ago, 2020

11. Marshall still has a sharp mind and was doing his own taxes, talk current events, and history

12. He has 22 grandkids, 40 great grandkids, 26 great-great grandkids