Born in Shoals, North Carolina, Marion worked on a tobacco farm as a boy. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1936 and was later assigned to the Second Balloon Squadron. He spent three years at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, North Carolina, working with the cigar-shaped, captive balloons that floated to about 2,000 feet. Marion left the service in 1939, but re-joined within days. A staff sergeant, he was assigned to the Third Photo Reconnaissance Squadron at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama. During the war, his unit photographed and aerially mapped many strategic places, including French Guyana, Alaska, northern Canada, India, and China. By January of 1945 he was serving as part of the ground crew for B-29s flying at 30,000 feet to photograph Japan. Marion returned to America after the war as a master sergeant. He continued serving at Maxwell Field, at Misawa Air Base in Japan, and later at Barksdale Air Force Base, where he was attached to Headquarters Squadron, 311^th Bomb Wing. He worked in quality control of aircraft maintenance on B-47s. Marion retired in 1957 and spent many years remodeling and renovating homes. He also has worked in evangelism and teaches Bible at the Benton-Bossier Parish Jail.