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Martin Forrest Markward, Jr. (6 June 1914 San Antonio) was an Texas attorney based in Fort Worth. Having served in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps during World War II, and stationed at Mindanao Philippines, Markward drafted the surrender document for the Japanese commander which was signed in 1945 at Mindanao

United States Armed Forces
With his law degree, Markward enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Wolters on January 9, 1942, as a private in the Warrant Officers Branch.

The peace treaty was signed aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.

Career
After World War II, Markward returned to Fort Worth to practice law, until retirement at age 82. In 1999, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Texas Wesleyan University.

As an attorney in Fort Worth for 60 years Forrest specialized in petroleum and civil law, probated wills and handled estates. Originally a partner in the law firm Pepper & Markward, in 1981 he joined McLean Sanders. Active in local community affairs, he was a president of both the Tarrant County Bar Association and the Metropolitan Board of Missions. He was a member of the Fort Worth Civil Service Commission among other civic associations.

Honors
Forrest Markward Attorney At Law Gentleman of the Old School Lest We Forget'' In 1994 two new flagpoles in Fort Worth, flanking the Tarrant County Courthouse steps, were dedicated to Forrest, who actually had campaigned for their replacement. He was then 80 years old, still practicing law, and the courthouse was 99 years old. Upon his retirement in 1998, McLean Sanders installed a plaque next to the flagpoles, honoring Forrest for his 60 memorable years at the Bar. It states, simply, “Forrest Markward, a gentleman of the old school, lest we forget.”
 * March 4, 1999, The Texas Senate adopted a resolution honoring the career of Markward
 * There is a plaque by the flagpole at the south entrance to the Tarrant County Courthouse that reads:
 * ''Dedicated to

Family
Forrest, as was best known, turned out to be the kind of lawyer every client wishes to face on the other side. His record as an attorney was by no means that of a loser, but his wins were finished with the kind of élan people wish for the courtroom. Forrest was born June 6, 1914 in San Antonio, TX, son of Martin Forrest Markward and Ada Belle (Moore) of Ft. Worth, TX, nicknamed “Bro” among family members, he attended Ft. Worth public schools and received his B.A. in law from the University of Texas in Austin in 1938.

Forrest remained unmarried and had no children. He is buried in the Markward Family plot at Shannon Rose Hill Cemetery, Ft. Worth. His nephew and niece in Austin, TX, donated much of his service memorabilia and personal diaries to the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, TX. His fame spread far beyond the courts of Fort Worth, where his practice was centred.

Firms

 * Markward and McGlinchey
 * Pepper & Markward

Affiliations

 * 1956 — Admitted to the American Judicature Society

Service in the United States Armed Forces
After the war he went back to practice law in Ft. Worth, until retirement at age 82. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Texas Wesleyan University there in 1999.

As an attorney in Fort Worth for 60 years Forrest specialized in petroleum and civil law, probated wills and handled estates. Originally a partner in the law firm Pepper & Markward, in 1981 he joined McLean Sanders. Active in local community affairs, he was a president of both the Tarrant County Bar Association and the Metropolitan Board of Missions. He was a member of the Fort Worth Civil Service Commission among other civic associations.

Forrest also was an active member of many local organizations. A long-time, member of the Polytechnic United Methodist Church, he also served as a leader and chair on many boards and committees, including the Building Committee—formed in 1950—for the current church facility completed in 1952. He helped organize the Junior Board of Stewards and he even taught the Golden Circle Sunday School Class for many years. Within members of the congregation he was often referred to as “Mr. Poly Methodist.” And then beyond the local church he held leadership positions in the Central Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, and for many years was Provost for the Central Texas Conference. He served as a Lay Delegate to the Annual Conference, and was instrumental in assisting with the formation of the Central Texas Methodist Foundation, of which he became a Trustee Emeritus.

Forrest served in World War II with the 31st Army Infantry “Dixie” Division, entering as a Private in 1942 and honorably discharged at the end of the war in 1946 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He went on to become a JAG in WW2, as a Lt. Col., stationed in the Philippines. Among his assignments there, one was of incomparable historic value: it was he who drafted the document for the surrender of the Japanese at the end of WW II. For that and his other accomplishments he received the Bronze Star.His group fought in New Guinea, Morotai in the Dutch East Indies and Mindanao in the Philippines. While the South Pacific he served in as Assistant Chief of Staff, receiving the Bronze Star for his accomplishments in establishing economic zones in the Philippines. Prior to that he had drafted that surrender document for the Japanese to sign and end the war.

Another memorable time in his life came in 1963. Forrest attended President John F. Kennedy's last meal, which was a Chamber of Commerce breakfast honoring the President at Fort Worth's Texas Hotel, just hours before he was assassinated in Dallas. And ironically related to that historic event, Forrest later would handle legal matters for Lee Harvey Oswald's widow Marina, who was widowed with two young children. He prepared a trust fund for her, with donations sent to Marina after Jack Ruby fatally shot her husband. In typical Forrest style he would state that “It doesn't represent any accomplishment or any big deal at all. It's just trying to help somebody that needed it.”

Forrest was the recipient of the 1979 Blackstone Award, the highest honor presented by the Tarrant County Bar Association. At the time of this presentation Forrest was quoted as saying “I try to make a client's rights plain to him, but I also try to get him to see the rights of others and not resort to litigation unless necessary.” Shelby J. Sharpe, a member of the award selection committee at the time, said Forrest “was chosen because of his humility and integrity. If all the members of the bar were like him, the association would never get a black name.” The prestigious award is named for British jurist Sir William Blackstone; it is presented annually to a senior lawyer who best exemplifies the qualities of Blackstone.

His father was Vice President and Comptroller of the Fort Worth National Bank for many years. Forrest often proudly noted that his uncle by marriage, John Edward Hickman, who served as chief justice of the 11th Court of Civil Appeal in Eastland, TX, and as Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, was a great inspiration for him in childhood as well as later during his days as a student in the University of Texas Law School.

Two of Forrest's three siblings preceded him in death: younger brother John Oliver Markward, and sister Alma Dell DeHay (after whom The Dell DeHay Law Library of Tarrant County, TX, is named). He is survived by brother Dr. Charles Markward of Dallas, TX; his nephews, John Oliver Markward, Jr. of Austin, TX, and Mark DeHay of Fort Davis, TX; his nieces, Anne Markward of Durango, CO, and Anna DeHay Wiggins of Dallas.

A soft-spoken, honorable and deliberate man with a quiet sense of humor, Forrest was forever an optimist. He once said, “People are good; we need to remember that.” It was his wish to donate his body to the Willed Body Program at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX.