William Henry Harrison Morris Jr.

Lieutenant General William Henry Harrison Morris Jr. (March 22, 1890 – March 30, 1971) was a senior United States Army officer who fought in both World War I and World War II.

Early life and military career

William Morris was born in the Ocean Grove section of Neptune Township, New Jersey, on March 22, 1890. After graduating from grammar school and high school he was appointed by Congressman Benjamin Franklin Howell to the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, in 1907. He graduated from there in June 1911, alongside John P. Lucas, Frederick Gilbreath, Charles P. Hall, Joseph Cowles Mehaffey, John R. Homer, Karl Slaughter Bradford, Thompson Lawrence, Jesse A. Ladd, Gustave H. Franke, James R.N. Weaver, Paul W. Baade, Herbert Dargue, Alexander Surles, Harold F. Nichols, Raymond Albert Wheeler, Philip Bracken Fleming, Ira T. Wyche. Like Morris, all of these men would become general officers before, during, or after World War II.

The former residence of Lieutenant General William H. H. Morris in Washington, D.C.

After graduation he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Infantry Branch of the United States Army and was assigned to the 19th Infantry Regiment at Camp Jossman, Philippine Islands. He then served at Fort McKinley, afterwards transferring to the 15th Infantry Regiment with duty in Tianjin, China, where he served from 1912 to 1914.

In 1914, Morris was assigned to the 9th Infantry Regiment in Laredo, Texas, where he served until 1916. While there he married Ida Marguerite Downing, who he met soon after being commissioned in 1911. Morris was then appointed as a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) instructor and basketball coach at Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Texas A&M University), where he served until 1917, when he returned to the 9th Infantry Regiment as its S-2 intelligence officer.

Morris was promoted to captain on May 15, 1917, over a month after the American entry into World War I. Thirteen months later he was a major. In July 1918 he was sent to the Western Front and was appointed commanding officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion, 360th Infantry Regiment, part of the 90th Division of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). He led his battalion in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and in the Meuse–Argonne offensive. He was wounded on November 1, just ten days before the end of hostilities on November 11, 1918, an action for which he received the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second highest award for valor in the face of the enemy, and the Purple Heart. He remained in Europe with the Army of occupation, commanding his battalion in Germany, and then serving on the staffs of the (AEF) General Headquarters (GHQ) and the IX Corps. The 411th Infantry Regiment of the 103rd Infantry Division linked up there at Vipiteno on May 4 with troops of the 349th Infantry Regiment of the 88th Infantry Division of the Fifth Army, joining the Central European and Mediterranean theatres.

Name: Morris, William H.H. Jr. Rank: Major, U.S. Army Organization: 360th Infantry Regiment, 90th Division, A.E.F. Date of Action: November 1, 1918, Order: General Orders 87, War Department, 1919 Home Town: Ocean Grove, New Jersey