As reporrted by Floyd McElroy, John F. Marshall's parents were missionaries in Burma prior to World War II and were evacuated to India and then returned to the United States following the Japanese invasion of Burma in December 1941. After the fall of Singapore in February 1942, John F. Marshall enlisted in the Navy and received at least part of his training at Naval Air Station Quonset Point in Rhode Island before arriving for duty in the South Pacific theater. On May 18, 1945, having attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander, Marshall reported on board the U.S.S. Missouri, the flagship of William (Bull) Halsey's Third Fleet, to join the Admiral's staff. He was on the Missouri on September 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay when he described the official surrender of the Japanese that took place on that ship in a letter to friend and former colleague, Floyd McElroy. McElroy was Vice-President of Loomis-Sayles, & Company, an investment firm based in Boston with an office in San Francisco. Marshall worked in that San Francisco office prior to the war and, apparently returned to work there after the war.