Among the hundreds killed were 37 Pennsylvanians, one of whom hailed from Blair County.

John Lucas Marshall was born on Oct. 17, 1922, in Altoona, and the son of Polish-speaking parents Michael and Christine Marshall, who had immigrated from Poland in the early 20th century. Michael Marshall, a veteran of World War I, financially supported the household as a hostler at the steam railroad roundhouse in Altoona.

John Marshall’s story is part of the nonprofit Stories Behind the Stars, which aims to research and write about all of the more than 400,000 soldiers killed in World War II.

Chris Moyer of Blue Bell, who has been volunteering with Stories Behind the Stars for about a year, said Marshall’s story is one of about 300 he’s completed so far.

Courtesy photo John Lucas Marshall, shown in his Altoona High School yearbook photo from Ancestry.com, was one of those killed.

For Moyer, the journey of creating the story begins by scouring military records of those who died and also a database of all veterans from Pennsylvania.

“It is sometimes easier to find information on naval battles than those that take place on land,” Moyer said.

He also delves into the archives of genealogical and historical societies, newspapers and yearbooks to piece together the untold stories of these individuals

It’s a somewhat daunting task, as information can be scattered, but Moyer said he and other volunteers are dedicated to writing the stories, to creating a legacy for the soldiers and their families.

“It is like finding a needle in a haystack,” Moyer said in regard to how hard it is to find the details he needs on each veteran.

In researching Marshall, he found the 22-year-old had three older brothers, Walter, Stanley and Louis, a younger brother, Henry, and a younger sister, Anna.

Marshall graduated from Altoona High School in 1941, then began working for the Pennsylvania Railroad before enlisting in the Navy Reserve on Aug. 5, 1943.

Moyer’s writing includes this brief description: “For many Americans, their first and only knowledge of this tragedy came from the chilling scene of the 1975 movie ‘Jaws,’ where shark-hunter Quint recounts the harrowing ordeal of nearly 900 survivors who were adrift in shark-infested waters for days awaiting rescue.”

Moyer worked to fill in the blanks about Marshall’s service, finding that he received basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Chicago, Illinois, and was transferred to the Navy Receiving Barracks in Shoemaker, California, to await assignment.

He boarded the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis on Jan. 19, 1944, with the rank of Fireman 2nd Class.

The USS Indianapolis was a flagship for Adm. Raymond Spruance while he commanded the 5th Fleet in battles across the Central Pacific during World War II. The cruiser had a combat legacy that included the Gilbert Islands Operation at the Battle of Tarawa, the Marshall Islands Operation’s Battle of Kwajalein (Operation Flintlock), the Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign with the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Battle of Saipan and the Battle of Tinian. The vessel also engaged in the Western Caroline Islands Operation’s Battle for Ulithi Atoll and the Battle of Peleliu. In 1945, the cruiser engaged in the Iwo Jima Operation and the Okinawa Gunto Operation through June.

A little more than six months into his deployment on the Indianapolis, Marshall and his shipmates completed delivery on July 26, 1945, of top-secret cargo to the Army Air Force Base on Tinian. The top secret cargo turned out to be components of Little Boy, the nuclear weapon later dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

The USS Indianapolis then transferred sailors in Guam and set sail toward Leyte Island, Philippines, on July 28, 1945.

Two days later, at 12:15 a.m. July 30, two Type 95 torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-58 struck the USS Indianapolis in the bow and amidships on its starboard side.

Twelve minutes later, the cruiser rolled over completely and sank by its bow. About 300 crewmen went down with the ship. The remainder of the 1,196 sailors — nearly 900 — were set adrift without food or water to await rescue, but that rescue did not come for four terrifying days.

Many of the survivors were injured. All suffered from dehydration due to the hot sun during the day and hypothermia at night, from continued exposure to salt water and bunker oil, and from shark attacks.

It is estimated that as many as 150 of the deaths were due to shark attacks. Some killed themselves or other shipmates because of various states of delirium and hallucinations. Only 316 of the nearly 900 men who were set adrift survived.

Marshall was memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Philippines. He is listed on the USS Indianapolis National Memorial in Indianapolis, Indiana, and he was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

The tragedy of the USS Indianapolis had another dimension to which Pennsylvania is connected. The captain of the cruiser, Charles B. McVay III, was a native of Ephrata, and attended school there until his family moved when he was a teenager. McVay survived the sinking and became a scapegoat for the tragedy, despite protests by the surviving USS Indianapolis crew. He became the only U.S. ship captain to be court-martialed during World War II. Eventually, he was exonorated of all wrongdoing, but it occurred decades after his death by suicide.

Moyer is passionate about preserving the memory of veterans, especially in cases where information is scarce.

He said completing the story “a way to commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Marshall’s story and thousands of others can be found on storiesbehindthestars.org, where information on volunteer opportunities and more can be found.