Lt. Theodore Marxon Memorial
Whitfield County, Whitfield County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
Lt. Theodore Marxon A.A.F.|Killed In The Line of Duty Feb 5, 1943
The Story
This roadside memorial marks the death of Lieutenant Theodore Marxon of the Army Air Forces, who was killed in the line of duty on February 5, 1943 — the same winter the United States was racing to build the largest air force in the world. During World War II the A.A.F. expanded from a few thousand aircraft into millions of personnel, training pilots and crews at airfields spread across the South, Georgia among them. Line-of-duty deaths like Marxon's were a grim, constant feature of that buildup, as young aviators flew unforgiving aircraft in the rush to prepare for combat overseas.
Why it matters
It puts a single name on the enormous human cost of forging American air power during World War II, a reminder that the war was won not only on distant fronts but in the training fields and skies of the home front.
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Related people
- · Lt. Theodore Marxon
Related events
- · World War II
Themes & tags
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