Together: Annals of an Army Wife

by Katherine Tupper Marshall

When widowed Katherine Tupper Brown told her sons that she was inviting an Army officer named Colonel Marshall to visit them at their home on Fire Island, the lads at once smelt a rat. "If it makes you happier, mother, it is all right with me," said Clifton (14). "I don't know about that. . . ." muttered Allen (12). But soon afterwards, the future Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army received a brief, secret note from Allen: "I hope you will come to Fire Island. Don't be nervous, it is O.K. with me. (Signed) A friend in need is a friend indeed. ..." A few months later, Lieut. Colonel George Catlett Marshall became Allen's stepfather.

Katherine Marshall has written what she frankly calls "this homespun account" because "General Marshall has told me that he will never write his own memoirs, his knowledge of people and events being too intimate for publication." The result is a friendly, chatty, modest collection of data and trivia that rarely goes beyond the bounds of domesticity.

Genres: Biography, History

324 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Katherine Tupper Brown Marshall

Birth: Oct. 8, 1882
Death: Dec. 18, 1978

Second wife of US Army General George Catlett Marshall (1880 - 1959). Author of "Together," an autobiography about her life with husband.

One child: Allen Tupper Brown (1916 - 1944).
Buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, USA with her husband.

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book 5 stars because I loved learning about General George Marshall through the stories and letters his wife Katherine shares in the process of telling about their life together from their marriage in 1930 until he was released from his position as Chief of Staff after WWII. What a remarkable man! His sterling character, wisdom, and selflessness shows through again and again in the telling. I never knew much about him, having been born in the early 60s, although I had heard of the Marshall Plan. Truly, what he did to enable the US Military to secure victory in WWII was outstanding. The accolades he received are proof of his reputation and influence. Mrs. Marshall allows us the details of what life was like, and of the many efforts Marshall undertook, seemingly little ones, to the world known ones.

some praise of General Marshall:
In a letter, the Prime Minister wrote "... It has not fallen to your lot to command the great armies. You have had to create them, organize them, and inspire them...."

Secretary of War Stimson, with fourteen generals present and high officials, had General Marshall come to his office at noon on VE Day to give his remarks "I want to acknowledge my great personal debt to you, Sir, in common with the whole country. No one who is thinking of himself can rise to true heights. You have never thought of yourself. Seldom can a man put aside such a thing as being the Commanding General of the greatest field army in history. This decision was made by you for wholly unselfish reasons. But you made your position as Chief of Staff a greater one. I have never seen a task of such magnitude performed by man. .....I have seen a great many soldiers in my lifetime and you, Sir, are the finest soldier I have ever know....."

Well worth reading!

[Barbara VA · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! A truly inspiring memoir of the woman who shared the experiences of our nation's hero, General George C. Marshall. Written in 1946, after stepping down from the office of Chief of Staff for the full WWII era, there is so much that I learned about Marshall. I spent the entire 21+ year career with my Army Historian Officer husband, including his years as a Military History college professor and I learned more about Marshall here than I could imagine. Her writing "spoke" to me, I understood her pride in reading the letters from the mothers of soldiers serving or FDR or Eisenhower thanking Marshall for the support given to them, her pain, her loneliness, her aching back from packing and moving, her joy at having him come home from travels, her happiness in sharing her home with her daughter and grandchildren while her son in law served overseas, the relief when her older son was released from active service, and even her desire to travel and dine out inconspicuously with her husband from tie to time (this really hit it for me!). The letters brought tears to my eye and I am ready now to move on to the histories of this great man!

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I've never read a book by someone with so much class. General Marshall's wife was a real blue-blood, born and bred in Baltimore (I bet she went to a finishing school for ladies) — and she's a great storyteller! I learned so much about what things were like in the US during WWII, the food rationing when all people had to eat for dinner was a thin slice of meat, a ragged piece of lettuce and the false hope of more to come, what Eisenhower and Truman and Roosevelt actually did, and about what a real hero Marshall was. He was a saint! So selfless, so courageous, so intelligent (it was said of him that he "had no mental ceiling"). Everything you'd want in a husband, too -- sensitive, kind, a great salary to keep you living in high style with a winter home, a summer home, and a vacation place on Fire Island. And he was so unpolitical, when the masses wanted to draft him for president, he said, "I'd rather be in my grave than be in politics." I wish we lived in Thomas More's Utopia where the first thing to disqualify you from running for public office was wanting to run.

[Catlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

My in-laws gave us this book for Christmas. It was so interesting and inspiring to learn about such a great man (General George C. Marshall - Army Chief of Staff during WWII). As a military spouse I could appreciate and relate to some of her experiences, but I was just so impressed with all that they did!