Marion Ellis
Marion Clifton Ellis (Oct. 20, 1921 – Sept. 20, 1944) was a Scott County soldier killed in Italy during World War II.
See Also: Scott Countians killed in war
Biography
Born Oct. 20, 1921, Marion C. Ellis was the son of James Ellis 1879-1929) and Maude Ann Smith (1881-1958) of Huntsville. His siblings included John F. Ellis (1906-1966), Eva Pearl Parker (1909-2005), Charlie H. Ellis (1911-1988), William Howard Ellis (1913-1979), Murley Lonzo Ellis (1915-1987) and Ruth Esther Bond (1918-2002).
His father died in 1929 of a bowel obstruction.
Marion worked for the highway department before leaving for the war.
World War II
PFC Ellis enlisted in the Army/Army Air Forces in October 1942 and was assigned to 135th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division. He fought in the European theater of World War II.
On Sept. 17, 1944, PFC Ellis wrote a letter to his mother: Dear Mother: just a few lines this morning as I was brought back from the Lines last night for a few days rest. I am just sitting around. Mother don’t worry over me for I am O.K. An artillery Shell bursted close by me and deafened my ear, as I jumped over an embankment and hurt my leg. So that’s nothing to worry about, but I would give the world, if I owned it, to be home with the war over. If I don’t write to the boys tell them I am O.K. Tell Louise [his 9-year-old niece] hello for me. I will close. Good-bye and be good. Your son, Pfc. Marion C. Ellis.
Three days later, PFC Ellis was killed in action. His mother was wired by the War Department with the news.
Aftermath
PFC Ellis’s body was returned home, along with the remains of 2,553 other Americans who lost their lives in the Mediterranean area, in June 1949. Also returned on that trip were the remains of Virgil Neal of Scott County. PFC Ellis was buried at the Ellis Cemetery in the Annadale community east of Huntsville, where his father had been buried in 1929.
He received the Purple Heart. He is listed on the VFW Post 5669 Memorial Wall in Oneida, the Scott County Veterans Memorial in Huntsville, and the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial in Knoxville.