Local WWII veteran to turn 100

Local WWII veteran to turn 100

Eugene Morgan will celebrate milestone with family, friends

ralphhardin@gmail.com Longtime Crittenden County resident and World War II veteran Eugene Morgan will be celebrating a century of living on June 12, and his family and friends are holding a pair of 100th birthday celebrations in his honor.

A few days before Morgan hits the big One-Zero-Zero, West Memphis First Assembly of God, 513 Missouri St. will be playing host to Morgan and wellwishers with a party from 2 to 4 p.m. Anyone who would like to drop by and offer Happy Birthday wishes is welcome.

And on his actual birthday, Morgan and his “Old Goat” buddies will be at Big John’s Shake Shack in Marion at 10 a.m. to celebrate as well.

Morgan was featured in a special article in the Times in 2013. The WWII vet served in the Marines in the Pacific and survived the fierce fighting on Guadalcanal.

Morgan was living in Dallas and enlisted in the Marines after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He was sent to San Diego for training and was assigned to the amphibious corps of the Pacific Fleet.

He shipped out and took part in the Guadalcanal campaign, which was fought between August 1942 and February 1943.

“It was the first offensive by the United States against Japan,” Morgan said during an interview in 2013 Following Guadalcanal, Morgan and his unit were sent to Australia for a welldeserved rest. After Australia, Morgan was then assigned to an air liaison unit. The Marines used air liaison parties to direct air and artillery strikes.

“We went from island to island,” Morgan said. “But when we got to New Guinea, they found that the air liaison unit wasn’t very effective there because it was jungle fighting. So they sent our squadron back home.”

The squadron was sent to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island for training on 155 mm artillery guns.

Morgan found himself back in Hawaii again and expected to be a part of the invasion of Japan, but by then, President Harry Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb, which brought about the unconditional surrender of Japan.

He was then sent on to Japan and was part of the occupation force at the naval base on Honshu island. After the war, Morgan joined the Air Force and served in the 154th Fighter Squadron of the Arkansas Air National Guard. “We pulled targets for the fighter pilots to practice,” Morgan said.

The 154th was federalized and placed on active duty for service in Korea.

He was honorably discharged from military service in March 1953 and lived in Alaska for a number of years before moving to West Memphis to be closer to his wife’s family.

By Ralph Hardin