Carrier Platoon Commander, Scout Platoon Commander and Intelligence Officer 1st Battalion.                              48th Highlanders of Canada

Lt. Marshall Stearns joined the 2nd Battalion, 48th Highlanders in Toronto and is shown in a 1940 newspaper article as one of the 52 officers of the 2nd Battalion who were training for service in the Second World War. Once in England he joined the 1st Battalion 48th Highlanders. In October 1942, as part of the army’s reorganization of battalions adding a Support Company, Lt Stearns was appointed Officer Commanding the Carrier Platoon. When the battalion left Scotland in June 1943 for the landings at Pachino Sicily, Lt. Stearns travelled on the Slow Convoy. After the battalion had completed the Sicilian campaign and was at rest at Simeto in the shadow of Mount Etna, he arrived from North Africa, the last of the slow convoy officers to catch up. He had 3 new carriers from division spares, a welcome addition to the battalion as their carriers had been on a ship sunk in the Mediterranean. Stearns was appointed OC of the Scout Platoon for the landings at Reggio in Italy. He led out his platoon on a patrol that ranged far and made the first contact with the recce regiment of the 5th British Division on the west coast. He was made Information Officer in Battalion HQ before the battalion participated in the taking of Campobasso. Later he was transferred from Italy as  Captain to be ADC Operations to the Commander  2nd Cdn Corps in Northwest Europe.