Early family life

The fifth child of John Henry Marston Sr. and Hattie E. Prather, John Henry Marston Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on February 23, 1920. At the time, his parents lived on Woodward Avenue near Grant Park in Southeast Atlanta. Johnnie’s parents already had three children—daughters Louise and Kate and a son named William. Another son named Curtis, born in 1917, did not survive infancy and had died in 1918. His mother had three additional children after Johnnie—Evelyn, born in 1922, and twins Nellie and Ned, born and died in 1925. 

Johnnie and his sister Evelyn (ca. 1925)

Johnnie's grandfather, also named John Henry Marston, was a carpenter by trade but also a musician. He played tuba in Atlanta concert bands that included “the Atlanta Zouave Band, the Wedemeyer Band, the Fifth Regimental Band, the Elks Band, Capital City Band,” and even twice with John Philip Sousa.

Johnnie's grandfather, John Henry Marston (ca. 1942)

Johnnie attended the sixth grade at Lee Elementary School in Atlanta during the 1934–35 school year. Although he only missed six days during the school year, he struggled with Social Science, Arithmetic, and Language. It wasn’t enough to hold him back though and he was promoted to the seventh grade at the end of the school year. Johnnie quit high school after only two years. Little did he know at the time that he would soon become part of the greatest generation to serve in the United States Armed Forces during World War II. 

Sixth grade report card, Lee Elementary School, 1934-35 school year (click to enlarge)

In 1938, the Marston family lived at 653 Boulevard NE, Apt. B4 in Atlanta. His father worked as a dental technician near Grady Stadium in downtown Atlanta. His mother was a housewife.

Johnnie

Johnnie was 19 years old in 1939, the year he met his future wife Lucile Myrtle Stacks, a pretty young woman living with her parents in Red Oak, Georgia, near College Park. He met Lucile through his friend Dent, a driver for the Coca-Cola Company. Dent delivered Coca-Cola at a country store near Lucile’s house. He met Lucile and her sisters during a delivery and thought enough of them to go home and tell Johnnie he should go meet them as well. Johnnie did and it wasn’t long before he asked Lucile for a first date—to a picnic.  

Lucile was the 5th child of 11 born in College Park, Georgia to Sam William Riley Stacks and Leola Edith Lemons on April Fool’s Day in 1922. Her father worked at the family sawmill in Red Oak. The family consisted of six girls—Frances, Nell, Lucile, Dorothy, Mary, and Betty; and four boys—Cecil, Earl, Geral, and Melvin. In addition to being sisters, Lucile and Nell were lifelong friends.

Lucile