AM2/C George Robert Morris was born in Berkeley, Illinois, on January 14, 1918, to Herbert Morris and Bessie Falls-Morris, and had a sister and and two brothers. His family resided at 5908 Bur Oak Avenue, Berkeley. He attended Sunnyside School, Longfellow School, Berkeley, and attended Proviso Township High School, for three years. He left to attend Washburn Trade School but left to work as a pipefitter for Robert Gordon Incorporated, Chicago. When the Selective Service Act took effect on October 16, 1940, he registered and gave his address as 4348 North Sacramento Avenue, Chicago, and named his mother as his contact person. By February 2, 1941, he had moved back home to Berkeley.
He was enlisted in the US Navy on December 31, 1941, but did not report until January 13, 1942, and received the serial number 610 36 14. He was sent to the Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida, where he trained to be a metal smith. It is also known he trained at Newport, Rhode Island, and Stanford Naval Air Station, Florida. He received the rank of Aviation Metalsmith 3/c. During this time, he continued to train became an AM2/c. It is known that during his time in the Navy, he became head of an aviation metal smith department and invented two devices that were put into use by the Navy.
On June 19, 1943, George was on board a US Navy dive bomber when it crashed 35 miles south of Sanford, on June 19, 1943, on what was supposed to be a routine training flight. All seven men on the plane were killed. George’s body was recovered and sent to Berkeley for burial with a Naval escort. A large floral piece was present at his wake that had been sent by the the officers and sailors of Stanford Naval Air Station. Am/2c was buried at Waldheim Cemetery, Forest Park, Illinois, in Section J, Lot 111.
