Former general's injuries may be from mugging
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hopefully, his fractured skull will heal and the contents of his missing wallet can be replaced. But if 81-year-old retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Winton Whittier "Bones" Marshall of Wai'alae Iki is unable to attend the Korean War Symposium later this month, that opportunity will be lost forever.
Advertiser library photo • 1997
Marshall was found seriously injured June 7 on the lower parking level at Ala Moana Center, the victim of an apparent early afternoon mugging.
Mildred Marshall says she believes her husband, Winton Whittier "Bones" Marshall, was attacked.
He has a tough road ahead, said his wife.
"We're expecting to start rehab soon, but he's got lots of problems," Mildred Marshall said. "He was really looking forward to the symposium."
As commander of the F-86 Sabrejet-equipped 335th Fighter Squadron, Marshall became the fifth U.S. jet ace of the Korean War in 1951. He was credited with destroying six and one-half enemy aircraft (seven probable) and damaging six, according to Air Force records.
"Bones kept in touch with all the Korean War fliers, and we're getting deluged with reaction about what happened to him," said John Sullivan, a historian with Pacific Air Force at Hickam.
The June 26-28 Korean War Symposium at Hilton Hawaiian Village, expected to draw hundreds of participants and feature 60 or more panelists, was Marshall's idea, Sullivan noted.
"He took us aside and got us to commit to having one after 50 years," Sullivan said.
Police are investigating the incident as a second-degree robbery.
The case was first classified as an unexplained injury, because Marshall indicated that he was not attacked when being transported by ambulance to the Queen's Medical Center.
A police report, however, noted he was incoherent.
Mildred Marshall filed a robbery complaint Sunday, after discovering her husband's wallet missing.
"It's an awful thing," said Mildred Marshall, who was a pilot with the Women's Air Force Service during World War II. "He has six clamps on the back of his head and a cut lip."
The couple met for lunch at the Mariposa Restaurant June 7.
"After lunch I left in my own car, and he went shopping," Mildred Marshall said.
Later that day, the general was found on the Coral Level by a maintenance worker, who told police he saw a man standing over the victim. The man fled as the worker approached, police said.
Mrs. Marshall said she thought her husband had been "most definitely" attacked. It is not known whether security surveillance tapes captured the incident.
Harold Kawasaki, head of Ala Moana Center security, could not be reached for comment.
"Right now we have a lot of ifs," said Lt. Clifford Takesono of the police robbery detail. "We don't know if he had his wallet or if it was misplaced, or if he fell. The case has been assigned, so the investigation is just starting."
Marshall retired in September 1977 as deputy commander in chief, U.S. Readiness Command, at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.
The Detroit native also served as vice commander of the Seventh Air Force at Tan Son Nhut Airfield in Vietnam and vice commander in chief, Pacific Air Forces, at Hickam Air Force Base.
