Happy Birthday to Colonel Tom Morris, 108-years-old today. Colonel Morris was the commander of the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry of 2nd Infantry Division during the closing weeks of World War II in Europe. Before that, Tom was the regimental S-3 officer and the regimental XO of the 38th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division. As far as the 2nd Infantry Division Association can tell, Colonel Morris is the oldest living 2nd Infantry Division veteran, 7 years older than the 2nd Infantry Division itself is. He is a 1933 graduate of Texas A&M, and the university says that Tom is also the oldest living Texas Aggie.
On Sunday, October 20, 2019, Col. Tom C “Ike” Morris, passed away at home in San Antonio at the age of 109. Tom C “Ike” Morris was born August 1, 1910, in Hamlin, Texas, the youngest of six children born to Etta Padget and Willie Carr Morris.
After graduation from high school in Waxahachie, Texas, Tom attended Texas A&M University, where he was president of the 1933 senior class, yearbook advertising manager, and chairman of the Ring Committee. Upon graduation, Morris returned to Forreston, where he married his childhood sweetheart, Margaret Calvin Morris, who was to be his wife for 76 years. Morris worked as principal and coach for Forreston High School and then for the US Department of Agriculture until the start of World War II.
1st Lt. Morris was ordered to active duty for one year and assigned to the 38th Infantry Regiment - 2nd Infantry Division. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, his orders changed to “You are hereby ordered for active duty for the duration.”
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