Introduced by Hometown Heroes radio host, Paul Loeffler, Dr. Fitzalbert M. Marius, WWII veteran and heart surgeon, speaks to junior high and high school students in honor of Veterans Day, Nov. 13.
He shares his past with students and begins with parts of his childhood and what led him into the career path of a heart surgeon. Right off the bat, Dr. Marius discovered his gift of steady hands and eye-hand coordination when he started painting at age three. He later discovers another area to use these talents at age 16 as an expert tailor. Here, Marius learned to make hats and all kinds of clothes and items.
Before his service in WWII began, Dr. Marius explains his college plans in attending Lincoln University in Pensilvania for architecture. He was able to finish two years of schooling before he joined the war.
Intresting facts about Marius at this point in his life that made him stand out from his peers in the Army was he spoke French and attended college.
In the war, Marius decided to go into the medical field due to the benefits the army provided for soldiers who went into the medical field. With this desicion, and his extra skills he had a part from the other soldiers, Marius was the only one in his company to go to Denver for medical to train.
Some obstacles stood in his way while serving his country. Due to the time period and his race of African American, Marius was abused and beaten by other soldiers.
He shares parts of his experience in these moments and the different tasks him and fellow African Americans were required to do in the Army. These soldiers were assigned to clean up swamps, get rid of bugs and bury the dead all while not being able to carry fire arms. Marius tells the crowd, “It was our job, we did what we had to do.” and “The main thing, living day after day, and getting rid of the enemy.”
After the stories of his time in the war, Marius went back to college for two more years and completed in the top ten in his class for premedical studies. Since he still wanted to be an artist, he managed to accomplish this all while working as a tailor and spending nights studying clubbing design and medical.
Up to the very end, Dr. Marius did not know whether he would attend an art school in Paris or medical at Howard University. He left it up to fate with a coin toss which lead to his ultimate deicision of medical school at Howard University.
Dr. Marius later came to Fresno in 1954 and interned at Fresno County General Hospital (now Community Regional Medical Center). In 1958, Marius and Dr. Byron Evans made history by performing the first open heart surgery in Fresno. He continued his work until his retirement five years ago at age 91. Now Marius enjoys writting poetry and read one of his thanksgiving poems to students at the end of chapel called, “Praise and Thanksgiving.” Copies of the poem are available from Robert Foshee.
For more information check out a personal video interview and article on thefeather.com about Dr. Fitzalbert M. Marius.
For more information about Dr. Fitzalbert M. Marius visit: Interviewing Dr. Fitzalbert M. Marius.
For more Feather photos, visit media, photos 2018-19.
Slideshow below includes images from Dr. Fitzalbert M. Marius’ time in chapel.
