George Stephen Morrison
| George Stephen Morrison | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | January 7, 1919 Rome, Georgia |
| Died | November 17, 2008 (aged 89) Coronado, California |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service/branch |  United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1938–1975 |
| Rank | Rear Admiral |
| Commands held | USS Bon Homme Richard |
| Battles/wars | |
George Stephen Morrison (January 7, 1919 - November 17, 2008) was a Rear Admiral and naval aviator in the United States Navy. Morrison was commander of the U.S. naval forces in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident of August 1964. He was the father of Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the rock band The Doors.[1][2][3]
[edit] Early life and career
Morrison was born in Rome, Georgia to Caroline (née Hoover) and Paul Raymund Morrison, and raised in Leesburg, Florida.[2] Morrison entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1938. He graduated in 1941, was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Navy, and was sent to Hawaii.[4] Assigned to the minelayer Pruitt (DM-22) at Pearl Harbor, he witnessed the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941.[3]
In 1943 he studied flight training at NAS Pensacola, Florida, graduating in spring 1944. Morrison flew missions in the Pacific Theater for the duration of World War II.[4]
After the war, he was an instructor for secret nuclear-weapons projects in Albuquerque. During the Korean War, he was assigned to the joint operations center in Seoul, earning a Bronze Star for his part in combat operations against North Korean and Chinese forces.[3]
In 1963, Morrison took command of the Essex-class aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard (CV-31), flagship of a 3rd Fleet Carrier Division in the Pacific,and based at Naval Air Station, Alameda, California. Morrison was in command of the Carrier Division during the controversial Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964, which resulted in a dramatic escalation of the Vietnam War.[5] In 1966 he was promoted to Rear Admiral; at age 46. In 1972, he was appointed Commander Naval Forces Marianas.[6] As such, he was in charge of relief efforts for Vietnamese refugees sent to Guam after the 1975 fall of Saigon.[7]
Admiral Morrison was the keynote speaker at the decommissioning ceremony for Bon Homme Richard, his first ship as an admiral, on July 3, 1971 in Washington D.C., the same day his son, Jim Morrison, died in Paris, France at age 27.
Morrison retired in 1975.[7]
[edit] Personal life
Morrison met and married Clara Clarke in Hawaii in 1942. Their son James Douglas, the singer from The Doors, was born in 1943 in Melbourne, Florida where they lived at the time.[4] A daughter, Anne Robin, was born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a son, Andrew Lee Morrison, was born in 1948 in Los Altos, California.[8]
In retirement, the Morrisons lived in Coronado and Chula Vista, California. Clara Clarke Morrison, 86, died after a long illness in Coronado on December 29, 2005. Rear Admiral Morrison died in Coronado on November 17, 2008. His private memorial service was held on November 24 at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. His ashes were scattered at sea near the same spot off Point Loma where his wife's ashes had been scattered nearly three years earlier.
[edit] References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: George Stephen Morrison |
- ^ "Inside the Laurel Canyon : The Strange but Mostly True Story of Laurel Canyon and the Birth of the Hippie Generation". davesweb.cnchost.com. http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr93.html. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- ^ a b Steve Liewer (November 28, 2008). "George 'Steve' Morrison; rear admiral flew combat missions in lengthy career". San Diego Union-Tribune. http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/obituaries/20081128-9999-1m28morrison.html. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- ^ a b c William Grimes (December 8, 2008). "George S. Morrison, 89; Navy Commander and Father of Rock Singer". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/us/09morrison.html?_r=1. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- ^ a b c Livepress encyclopedia retrieved April 8, 2008
- ^ http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq120-1.htm. Possibly Carrier Division Five
- ^ "Rear Admiral George S. Morrison, ComNavMarianas. Oct. 1, 1972 (Photographs)". libweb.hawaii.edu. http://libweb.hawaii.edu/digicoll/ttp/ttp_htms/3226.html. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- ^ a b "Rear-Admiral George Morrison: father of Jim Morrison". The Times. December 11, 2008. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5321027.ece. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- ^ "Jim Morrison". The Biography Channel. http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/jim-morrison.html?. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
