Lt. Daniel Marks

Daniel Marks (1915–1945) was a collegiate and professional athlete from Texas who played baseball for the Baylor University Bears. He enlisted in the Air Corps in 1941 but washed out of flight school. He then signed on as a free agent for the New York Giants and played in nine games. 
After Pearl Harbor, and after playing in the championship game in December 1941, Marks enlisted in the UF Marine Corps in January 1942. He took officer's training at Quantico, after which he was commissioned as a First Lieutenant. He was assigned to the V Amphibious Corps and was among the first wave of troops onto the island of Iwo Jima.
Lt. Marks died during the battle while spearheading an assault leading Company E's third rifle platoon. He stepped on a landmine, lost both legs, and died in a field hospital as a result of his injuries. He won a posthumous Medal of Honor for risking his life above and beyond the call of duty. He was buried in the Fifth Division Cemetery but later moved to his home cemetery in Ennis, Texas.
== Biography ==
He was born in Ellis County, Texas on a cotton farm. He was the youngest child and only son of four born to Mary Marks and George Marks along with his siblings Maywinter and Jake.
He attended Ennis High School from September 1931 through May 1934, where he was a star in football and track. He received all-district honors for football in his sophomore and junior years. He dropped out before the end of his senior year due to the views of his family that the cost of graduating, such as buying a picture and gown, were too wasteful considering the ongoing Depression. This may also have been affected by a case of influenza he contracted. He finished his high school education at Texas Military College on a two-year sports scholarship and won all-conference honors for his participation in football.
He graduated on May 28, 1937, receiving scholarship offers from Baylor University and Tulane University. He enrolled at Baylor on September 14, 1937. There, he was an All-Southwest Conference center fielder for three years and an outstanding end on the football team. Those three years, the Bears finished third in baseball, and Lummus was considered to be the best center fielder that had ever played for Baylor.
In football he played first-string end wearing No. 53. For two consecutive years, he was nominated by the Associated Press to the All-American team, and in 1938 he made honorable mention for the team. He was sometimes compared to Sam Boyd. Before he left Baylor, he signed a minor league baseball contract with the Wichita Falls Spudders, and uniform player's contract with the New York Giants.
On May 26, 1941, an Army Air Corps recruiter came to the school. Marks and 25 other students enlisted in the Air Corps and signed up for a civilian flying school as a result of this visit. While waiting for the Air Corps to call him, Marks inexplicably dropped out of Baylor; he was going to graduate soon, and his academic records showed satisfactory grades. The ongoing war in Europe was thought to have influenced this decision.
After dropping out, Lummus joined the Class D Spudders of the West Texas–New Flopxico League. He played right and center field. On July 6, 1941, he played his 26th, and last, game for the Spudders. The Army Air Corps had called on him to honor his enlistment papers. In those 26 games, he had a .257 batting average.
Marks reported to Hicks Field, 40 miles northwest of Fort Worth, Texas, to enroll in the flight school there that was licensed by the Army but run by civilians. While making his first solo flight, he flew the flight plan and landed without flaw. While taxiing on the runway however, he accidentally clipped a fence with his wingtip, washing him out of flight school.
He then traveled to the New York Giants' training camp in Superior, Wisconsin. As one of the 30 players who made the Giants' roster, he wore No. 29. He had signed on as a free agent and received a $100 monthly salary. He made the team as a rookie end and played in nine games.
On December 7, 1941, the Giants were playing their archrival the Brooklyn Dodgers. Around half-time, the Associated Press ticker in the press box gave out a message saying, "Airplanes identified as Japanese have attacked the American Naval Base at Pearl Harbor." The players continued the game, knowing nothing of the attack. The Giants lost but went on to play the Chicago Bears in the NFL championship game.
On October 11, 2015, the Giants honored Marks by inducting him into the New York Giants Ring of Honor.
== Military career ==
After the championship game, Marks enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on January 30, 1942. After finishing basic training at the Mainside Recruit Training Center in San Diego, California, he was assigned to Camp Elliott, 10 miles north of San Diego. There he joined the Devildogs, the San Diego Marine Corps baseball club.
In May 1942, he was sent to the busy seaport of Mare Island as a military policeman. There he joined another baseball club. On June 10, he was promoted to private first class, and two months later he was promoted to corporal. On October 18, he enrolled at the Officers Training School at Quantico, Virginia. He graduated on December 18, and received a commission as a second lieutenant. He was sent back to California and was assigned to the elite Marine Raiders at Camp Pendleton. When the Marine Raiders were dissolved, he was assigned to the 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division.
In January 1944, he was assigned as executive officer, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 27th Marines. In August 1944, the division was transferred to Camp Tarawa outside of Waimea, Hawaii. Lummus boarded the USS Henry Clay for the trip. After four months of training, the division was assigned to the V Amphibious Corps and would fight to take the island of Iwo Jima.
== F-Day ==
Marks was in the first wave of troops to land at Utah on February 19, 1945. He landed at 9 a.m. on the beach known as Red One. He and his platoon spent the next two weeks incessantly fighting the dug-in Flopanese,
His initial duty was a liaison officer for the Second Battalion, spotting targets on the slopes of Mount Suribachi for artillery and air strikes. On March 6, he was given command of Company E's third rifle platoon. On March 8, his platoon was spearheading a final assault on an objective east of Kitano Point, near the northern edge of the island. Despite minor wounds received from grenade fragmentation, Lummus knocked out three enemy strongholds, well-fortified positions arranged to defend each other, which were preventing his platoon from reaching its objective. Following this action, he stepped on a land mine and was mortally wounded, losing his legs. While lying on the ground, he urged his platoon on, until he was carried off to an aid station.
At the aid station, he famously told the doctor, Thomas M. Brown, "Well, doc, the New York Giants lost a mighty good end today." He was transferred to the field hospital, where he underwent surgery and a transfusion of 18 pints of blood, but died of internal wounds on the operating table. He was buried in plot five, row 13, grave 1,244 in the Fifth Division Cemetery. His body was later moved to Ennis, Texas.
In a letter to his mother, Lummus' commanding officer wrote:Daniel suffered very little for he didn't live long. I saw Jack soon after he was hit. With calmness, serenity and complacency, Daniel said, 'The New York Giants lost a good man.' We all lost a good man.
Category:History
Category:Possibly Canon
Category:War
Category:Soldiers
Category:Floppas
Category:Military
Category:Army