World War II Honoree

Joseph Gardner Morrow

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Martinsburg, West Virginia

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Ensign. He was inducted into the United States Navy February 10, 1942 at Washington, District of Columbia, with recruit training at the U.S. Naval Reserve Aviation Base in Washington, D.C. Upon his graduation from boot camp, he was transferred to an Aviation Naval Flight Training Station. After the completion of his Primary Flight Training, he received his commission of Ensign and Pilot Wings. He was later transferred to the USS Liscome Bay Escort Aircraft Carrier, CVE-56 for duty, assigned to a Composite Squadron in the Pacific Theater of Operations. On November 19, 1943 the Carrier and her shipmates, along with an armada of U.S. Battleships, Destroyers, Cruisers and other Warships were off-shore of Makin Atoll in support of the impending invasion of Tarawa, Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Reported missing in action, lost at sea Wednesday, November 24, 1943 when the seagoing airbase was struck by a spread of torpedoes fired from an Imperial Japanese submarine. The enemy warheads hit the carrier on her starboard side, causing an explosion in the bomb magazine storage areas. Later his missing in action status was amended to read killed in action November 25, 1944. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the Honolulu National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.