Person:Walter Morris (8)

Rocky Mount Telegram
Fri, Jan 16, 1998 ·Page 2

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/augustachronicle/name/walter-morris-obituary?id=24278865
Published by The Augusta Chronicle on Nov. 27, 2013.

Walter Morris Obituary
PALM COAST, Fla. - Walter Morris was born January 23, 1921, in Waynesboro, Ga. to the late Walter and Belle Morris. He was the youngest and only male of seven children. He passed October 13, 2013 at a hospital in Palm Coast, Fl. After graduating from high school in 1939, he began an apprenticeship as a bricklayer, but found construction work sparse during the Depression. He joined the Army as a one year volunteer in January 1941. One day Walter had an idea to imitate the white parachute students in training. He pretended to be the First Sergeant, gathered other soldiers in his company, double-timed them to the calisthenics training field and copied the PT training to the letter. Then they simulated jumping out of mock airplanes, shouting 1-1000, 2-2000 as paratroopers do when they jump from planes. Lt. General Ridgley Gaither, Commander of Paratrooper Airborne School was passing by the training field and sighted 50 black soldiers doing their pretend thing with such precision that he had his aide find the Sergeant and have him report to his office the very next morning. LTG. Gaither was impressed with the black soldiers and told Walter Morris that they planned on activating a new (all colored) unit called the 555 Parachute Infantry Company, later, becoming the mighty Triple Nickels. Walter Morris was invited to be the first sergeant of the outfit. I was elated, he said. My heart almost burst. He completed O. C. S. in August, 1944 and was the only black student in his class at Adjutant General School. In the spring of 1943, he said he washed out of Infantry Officer Candidate School on the 12th week of a 13 week program. He attributed his failure at I.O.C.S. to having never attended basic training, having never fired a rifle, and his lack of combat training. Walter Morris and the Triple Nickels are noted for being the first Negro Unit to integrate into the U.S. Army six months before President Truman signed the Executive Order 9981 to integrate the military. The success of this unit is noted for answering the call of the first attack on the Continental US in May, 1945, when the Japanese incendiary balloons reached the Oregon area creating massive forest fires and killing 6 U.S. civilians. At the end of WWII, Airborne Division Commander, Major General James M. Gavin merged the Triple Nickels into the 82nd Airborne Division and allowed the members to be a part of the Victory Parade along New York s Fifth Avenue. Mr. Morris spent his postwar career as a bricklayer in North Carolina and New York. He retired in 1984 and relocated to Palm Coast, Florida. In 1990, Agriculture Secretary Mike Epsy invited the World War II Paratroopers to Washington, DC for a ceremony of appreciation and service. At the time, seven of the original Triple Nickel paratroopers were living. Walter Morris was a sought after speaker, received many awards, subject of documentaries and TV broadcasts- particularly by journalist/NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw. He is predeceased by his first wife, Ruby Lovette and his second wife, Irma Page. Survivors include two daughters from his first marriage, Patricia Worthy, Washington, DC and Crystal Pool, Palm Coast, Fl.; two stepdaughters, Jean Lanier, Ormond Beach Fl., and Verneal Corbett of Woodbridge, Va.; five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. One grandson, Army Major Michael Fowles, graduated from Paratrooper school at Ft. Benning in 2004, fifty years after Walter Morris received his Paratrooper Wing Pin which he pinned on his grandson.

http://www.triplenickle.com/history.htm First black enlisted man accepted for airborne duty

[Columbus, Georgia]

Walter Morris
Birth: 23 Jan 1921 Waynesboro, Burke County, Georgia, USA
Death: 13 Oct 2013 (aged 92) Florida, USA
Burial: Burial Details Unknown. Specifically: No record of this person in VA database.

Memorial #: 119475734
Bio: 2nd LT (Ret) Walter Morris, 92, of Palm Coast, died at Florida Hospital Flagler following a brief illness. Walter Morris was born to the late Walter Morris Sr. and Belle Morris. He was born in Waynesboro, Ga., where he was educated. He worked as a construction worker, but was known for his historic contribution as a paratrooper in World War II, an original member of the Triple Nickels. He loved his family and friends.

Survivors include daughters, Crystal Poole, Palm Coast, Fla., and Sgt. Maj. Malvin Williams Tyson, Rock Island, Ill.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the African American Cultural Center in Palm Coast with Pastor Christopher Coleman of Harvest Time Ministry, officiating. Viewing will be one hour prior to service. Mr. Morris requested to be cremated.

Coleman"s Mortuary honorably rendering service.

Published in St. Augustine Record on Oct. 18, 2013
Created by: KitKat (47398329)
Added: 2013-10-29T10:28:41.000Z
URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119475734/walter-morris
Citation: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119475734/walter-morris: accessed December 30, 2024), memorial page for Walter Morris (23 Jan 1921–13 Oct 2013), Find a Grave Memorial ID 119475734; Burial Details Unknown; Maintained by KitKat (contributor 47398329).