1SG James Russell Morris

courtesy of Darrell Landrum

1SG James Russell Morris was born 18 Aug 1918 in Otter River, Virginia. He was the 5th of 9 children born to William Franklin and Queen Victoria (Owen) Morris. His father worked as an inspector in a cedar chest factory for many years. By 1930 the family had moved to  Altavista, Virginia where they lived on Eighth Street and later owned their home at 1012 Seventh Street which was valued at $2500 in 1940. By 1940, James was working as a salesman in the gas and oil industry and reported a 1939 income of $780 and was still living at home.

James had enlisted in the Virginia National Guard before it was mobilized in February 1941 but after the creation of the 1940 "yearbook". He trained with the unit at Fort Meade, Maryland and Camp Blanding, Florida before being sent with the 116th Infantry to England in September 1942. It was sometime after mobilization but prior to deployment to England that James married Hilda West of Altavista.  He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company 2nd Battalion 116th Infantry and was serving as a TSGT at the time of the amphibious landings on Omaha Beach on 6 Jun 1944. He was promoted to 1SG of the unit on 20 Jun 1944. He continued to serve with the unit until wounded in the La Trinite operation on 30 Aug 1944. Evacuated to hospital, 1SG Morris died of his wound(s) on 6 Sep 1944.

1SG Morris was repatriated in 1949 and re-interred in the Green Hill Cemetery in Altavista, Virginia.

James and Hilda apparently had no children. Hilda remarried in 1946.