Profile: Retired Major Clint R. Marshall Serving Country and Community

Clint Marshall with a helicopter he piloted during his time in the Marine Corps. Photo courtesy of Clint Marshall.

May 29, 2025

Michelle McAfee - CRR Staff

Retired Major Clint R. Marshall served over twenty-six years in the United States Marine Corps before retiring in 2016 with many Decorations, Medals, Badges, Citations and Campaign Ribbons awarded. 

Born in Alaska, Marshall is the son of the late Elmer Marshall from Chitina Village and a grandson of the late Robert and Mae Marshall. He is Athabascan and a member of the Udzisyu (Caribou) Clan, residing in Tazlina with his wife Katherine, whom he first met on deployment in Australia in 1991. They reconnected and married 18 years later and have been married for over twelve years.

Katherine stated in an email that Marshall is "devoted to Customary and Traditional Rights and residency rights, especially land rights, hunting, fishing, and gathering. He's a participant in these activities carrying on the culture and tradition passed on to him from his elders."

Marshall is currently on the Board of directors with Ahtna and said, "As a native from Tazlina, a member of the Tazlina village, I'm really proud to work with that company because of the good that it does for the native community." He is also a member of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Subsistence Resource Commission.

Katherine was proud to share her husband's accomplishments with us and said he had some stories to tell. 

Clint Marshall chuckled when asked if he planned to have a long, decorated career when he first joined the Marine Corps. "No. I had just turned 18 and didn't know what the heck I was gonna do. I had no idea. It wasn't a forever plan."

When he first enlisted in 1989, he said he was watching the news along with everybody else, seeing coalition helicopters and American helicopters in Iraq. It seemed like every other day, one was getting shot down. "I was thinking at the time, what did I get myself into? I ended up over there, and over time, that fear turned into confidence." 

Confidence served him well during his years in the Marine Corps. Between August 2006 - March 2007, on a deployment to Iraq, Marshall was flying a Marine Huey gunship (UN-1 helicopter) when a bleed air valve failed and flamed out an engine. Helicopters rely on air density to generate lift, and the heat that day created less dense air. The aircraft was too heavy to continue flying on a single engine. 

The Huey went down in a controlled crash and slid on its belly for 50-75 feet, the skids departing the helicopter as it hit the ground with force.

"They call it a hard landing, but it was definitely hard enough that they didn't fly that helicopter again for a long time," said Marshall.

Nobody was seriously injured in the crash.

On the ground, Marshall witnessed the Marine Corps leap into action for his downed Huey and crew. Attack helicopters were flying by on their way to Fallujah to support combat missions when a Cobra wingman appeared overhead. Ground forces arrived and put a permitter around them. Support helicopters came bringing Marine mechanics.

"A recovery vehicle showed up with two marines driving in the middle of nowhere. I don't even know where they came from," Marshall said with a touch of astonishment in his voice.

The maintenance Marines lifted the Huey from the top and rebuilt the skids underneath the damaged helicopter. The aluminum control tubes that relay inputs from the control sticks to the rotor blades were bent, and Marshall watched the mechanics hammer the tubes straight between two rocks and reinstall them in the aircraft. 

When Marshall climbed back in to start the Huey, the battery died. His crew waved down two other helicopters flying by, swapped out a good battery, and then loaded the other aircraft with heavy stuff from the damaged Huey. Eight hours after crashing, Marshall flew the Huey and his crew, escorted between two helicopters, back to base.

"I look back on that experience, and it's like, wow, that was a moment when I was really happy to be among a group of professionals because of how everybody worked as a team and handled it. It was unbelievable. I was proud to be a Marine because of that."

Another experience that stuck with Marshall from his time serving in the Marine Corps was rescuing a badly injured medic from the top of a grounded MH-60 helicopter that landed on a landmine. Marshall couldn't land next to them and risk the same fate, so he hovered the Huey above while his crew chiefs lifted the injured medic off the grounded aircraft.

"I remember as we were approaching the top of the helicopter, I was squeezing the sticks so hard, just trying to make sure I didn't hurt this guy [on the ground] who was guiding me in to pick up his injured buddy. He had his back up against the rotor mast of his helicopter, and my skid was running right along the front of his chest. If my helicopter had shifted to the right, it would have been bad news for him. And I thought to myself, 'This is the bravest guy on earth who's out there doing that.'"

Marshall's time in the military wasn't all about flying missions. His first job in the Marine Corps was air traffic control. Marshall said he found that job very challenging, sitting in a chair with a headset on and looking at a radar screen in a tower with the same people day in and day out. He realized he didn't want to sit in one room forever. 

He wanted to fly. But pilots in the Marine Corps are officers with college degrees. So Marshall sought out education and continued building on it. He was intimidated when he started doing college courses while in the Marine Corps, but discovered it wasn’t really that hard for him, it was interesting and fun.

Marshall hopes that sharing his story might inspire some young people to go out and experience something. 

"It's so valuable to gain experience, and get an education. And I found personally that the military was a good avenue for me. Whatever "

Marshall expressed that the support from family, friends, and the community made his time in the Marine Corps  worthwhile. He said people talk about service members sacrificing, but it's not just the service members. It's the families. He spent a lot of time away, and said his wife and kids were absolutely supportive. 

"You don't just do it for yourself. It's for the country, for your family, and for the better good."