Dixie

 In the summer of 1942, Glenn Miller’s “Chattanooga Choo Choo” was one of Bob and Dixie’s favorite songs to dance to after their senior year at Martin High School. That summer after graduation, Bob asked his high school sweetheart to marry him and she happily said yes. But trouble was on the horizon; the war to end all wars, World War II, was heating up. America had been brought into the battle when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. World events even touched the tiny mountain town of Martin as local boys who had just finished high school, had really just started shaving, felt the calling to join the ranks. Robert Marshall was one of those local boys. His dream always had been to become an aeronautical engineer and Dixie wanted to become a nurse. They spent many nights at sock hops at Martin High School, dancing to Glenn Miller and The Andrews Sisters and planning their future. Bob played on the Purple Flash’s baseball team and he played a mean saxophone and Dixie was a cheerleader and played basketball.

About 3 weeks before Bob had to ship off, the two got married. And they started a family. Bob and Dixie spent the evenings before his deployment in long deep talks about how they would get through the upcoming days and years. On the night before his departure, they walked hand in hand along Main Street in Martin and they went into the little jewelry store, Wright’s Brothers. Once inside Bob picked out a little ID bracelet, often called a “sweetheart bracelet”. The custom of the day was to engrave you and your sweetheart’s name on the bracelet. He also had his social security number etched on the back. He told Dixie that he would leave it on until he returned, at which time he would give it to her.

The months of war dragged on for the folks back home. News, in the form of newsreels, told of the horrors of war on a broad scale. But news from your soldier was scant. Sometimes Dixie would get a little postcard the army provided the soldiers on which Bob could write a few lines. Dixie was able to mail a photo of baby Robert taken when he was about 6 months old. She knows he received it because it was returned to her with his personal items. Dixie did her best to make sure that the homefires would remain burning. She worked at the local utility office and cared for the baby and prayed for her husband’s safe return.

That dream went unfulfilled. On a hot summer day, Dixie was sitting at her desk at the utility office when she noticed two men from the military walk by the front window. Instantly nervous, she knew what that signaled, and the men confirmed that Bob Marshall’s plane had been shot down. The officers expressed their condolences and said that they could not confirm where exactly the plane had disappeared. Family and friends gathered around the young family in the weeks and months to give love and support to Dixie and Robert. The military listed Bob and the other 8 souls aboard as “missing in action”. Eventually Bob’s status was changed to “killed in action” and Dixie was awarded a sum of $107 dollars. Personal items of Bob’s were returned to Dixie by the US army. One item was a book that was called a “buddy book” in which Bob had written the names of friends he had made in his platoon and other facts of his life that Bob had recorded in his own personal hand. There were also a few photographs in Bob’s memory book, including that photo of baby Robert. The war raged on for another year and Germany surrendered in May of 1945. Slowly our soldiers began to return home and eventually prisoners of war returned to America. One day the navigator of the plane came to Martin to visit Dixie. He and 5 others had been held as prisoners of war in Germany for 3 years. He confirmed that Sergeant Marshall had died during the flight as had Sergeant Jerome Kiger. And so it was.

Eventually Dixie met and fell in love with Joe Taylor Hyden, who loved Robert as his own son. The couple went on to have 4 other children, each of them understanding Robert’s story and understanding why his last name was different. Joe Taylor always said, “His dad gave his life in service to our country, his son should carry on his name.”

In 2007 a German citizen, Markus Mooser, discovered the remains of a downed American plane in a forest near Starnberg Germany. During the years of excavation, a piece of a bracelet was found. Etched in the bracelet was the name “Dixie” and on the back was a portion of a social security number. In a video that Mr. Mooser forwarded to me, he says, “Dixie, we have your ‘ring”. And so a bracelet purchased in a small jewelry store in Martin Kentucky in 1942, came home in 2013. Dixie and Robert received a great blessing in the knowledge that Bob was home at last. The bracelet, at least a portion of it, returned full circle back to Martin Kentucky. The final installment of the story will center on the investigation of the crash and Sergeant Robert Marshall’s homecoming.