Margot Marshall

Margot Marshall (1 May 1918 – 21 September 2010) was the first British woman officer to land in occupied Europe after D-Day. A member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) during World War II, she later was involved in organising the British delegation at the Potsdam Conference.

Early life Born as Margaret Campbell Marshall in Fowey in Cornwall in 1918, she was one of four children of her father, who died when she was aged 3. Her mother never remarried and shuttled her family between their homes in Gloucestershire, Surrey and Switzerland. Marshall grew up with a passion for all country pursuits, and she became an enthusiastic horsewoman. She gained a good working knowledge of French and German. Because of her peripatetic upbringing she had attended seven schools by the time she gained her School Certificate. Here Marshall initially served as a driver, ferrying senior officers around secret sites close to Southwold in Suffolk. This was followed by a period as an ambulance driver based at Colchester Military Hospital in Colchester Garrison. Following training at an Officers' Training Corps (OTC) unit in Edinburgh Marshall received a commission and was posted to Anti-Aircraft Command, initially at 584 Battery RA near Sheffield and after, as a Junior Commander (Captain) to 606 Battery RA on the Sussex coast, where she saw much action. For a short period she commanded the battery while her senior officer was on leave. At Courseulles-sur-Mer Marshall and her group set up camp among the ruins of Bayeux, near to the front line. The remaining 482 women of 1st Continental Group, made up of three companies including cooks, drivers and Marshall's E Company of clerks, joined the advance party about a month later.

After her husband left the Army in 1958 the family moved to Sussex, where John Cooper ran a ship chandlers. Despite her seasickness Marshall accepted her husband's passion for boats. On his retirement from the chandlers the couple would spend their summer holidays sailing in the Mediterranean before settling in Anglesey. Here they supported the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), John Cooper as Secretary and Margot Marshall as a fundraiser. In 2010 she was awarded the RNLI's gold medal. as is an archive of 38 papers relating to her military career.