July 26, 2024 • 20 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, it’s time for another one of Roger McGrath’s “Hollywood Goes To War” stories. So far we’ve heard the stories of Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, and Tyrone Power. Today McGrath will be treating us to the story of Hollywood’s strapping, steely-eyed leading man, Wayne Morris.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. And now it's
time for another one of Roger McGrath's Hollywood Goes to
Wars stories. Today, McGrath will be treating us to the
story of Hollywood's strapping, steely eyed leading man, Wayne Morris.
Here's McGrath with the story of Wayne Morris.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Wayne Morris was born and bred in California. Thoughie didn't
think about it growing up, he looked like something created
for screen stardom. He was tall, athletic, and handsome. He
was also intelligent and good natured. It wasn't until college, though,
that he got the acting bug. Then the six foot
(00:50):
two and a half and well built two hundred pound
Morris began taking acting lessons and appearing in plays. The
blonde aired, blue eyed college boy was soon signed to
a Warner Brothers contract. Morris appeared in twenty nine movies
by the time he's twenty seven years old, and starred
(01:10):
in most of them, including The Box Office and critical
smash hit Kid Galahad.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
He then walked away.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
From Hollywood and stardom to serve as a Navy fighter
pilot in World War Two. Wayne Morris is born Burt
Dwayne Morris, junior in February nineteen fourteen in Los Angeles.
His father, Burt Dwayne Morris Senior, has New England roots
(01:39):
by way of the Upper Midwest. In Nebraska, there is
a Morris ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
War as an officer.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Wayne Morris's mother is the former Anna Fitzgerald. From Texas,
there is a Fitzgerald ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
As an enlisted man.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Wayne Morris will have a younger brother, Richard Morris, who
also becomes a pilot in World War Two. When Wayne
Morris is still a little boy, the family moves to
San Francisco and remains there before returning to Los Angeles
when he is almost seventeen. Morris graduates from Los Angeles
(02:25):
High School in nineteen thirty two and begins college only
a few miles away at Los Angeles City College. There,
he becomes a theater arts major and starts studying with
the then famous Pasadena Playoffs. He begins appearing on stage
and attracts the attention of a talent scout from Warner Brothers.
(02:47):
A studio gives him a screen test. The camera loves him,
and he's signed to a contract. Morris makes his screen
debut in nineteen thirty six in China Clipp starring Pat
O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart, a fictional account of Pan American
Airlines establishing the first trans Pacific commercial flight service. The
(03:12):
movie has Morris playing a navigator on the Martin M
one thirty C plane. Making the movie gets Morris interested
in aviation. In his next seven movies, Morris has only
two substantial roles, but even as minor roles mark him
for stardom. In nineteen thirty seven, in Kid Galahad, he
(03:36):
gets his chance for the big time with the role
of a heavyweight boxer Kid Galahad.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
His co stars are Edward G.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Robinson, Betty Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. In that tough company,
Morris holds his own and his character makes him the
favorite of audiences. The film is a major success, and
Morris is elevated to the leading man. Morris stars in
a variety of roles in his next twenty movies. While
(04:06):
making the movie Flight Angels in nineteen forty, he begins
taking flying lessons.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
He's soon a licensed.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Pilot, flying regularly and logging many hours of flight time,
with Japanese aggression in the Far East and in the
Pacific increasing, Morris joins a naval reserve unit in nineteen
forty one and his commissioned in ensign. Following Japan's sneak
attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy activates Morrison and sends
(04:36):
him to flight school. By late summer nineteen forty two,
he has his wings. He desperately wants to fly fighters
in the Pacific, but the Navy wants him here at
home as an instructor so he can also make public
relation appearances. Moreover, the Navy considers him too big to
(04:58):
cram himself into the cockpit of a grum And Wildcat,
a Navy's fighter at the time.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Now a Lieutenant j G.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Morris is less than thrilled when he's ordered to a
Navy airfield at Hutchinson, Kansas as a primary flight instructor.
He begins his assignment with resignation rather than enthusiasm, but
the plot is about to thicken. Morris is married to
Patricia O'Rourke, a beautiful young actress. Her mother has a
(05:31):
younger brother, David mccampbell. Mccampbell is a Lieutenant commander a
combat veteran and one of the Navy's top pilots. One day,
mccampbell happens to fly in the Hutchison on a cross
country trip. Morris greets Uncle Dave and pleads with him
to pull some strings and get him into the fight
(05:53):
in the Pacific. Give me a letter, says Mcampbell. Mcampbell
is able to push Morris's letter of request through the
chain of command and get Morris transferred. However, Morris now
finds himself training in Jacksonville, Florida, in the PBYC plane.
(06:14):
The Navy still thinks Morris is too big for fighters.
Morris reckons he will now make it to the Pacific,
but as a PBY pilot, he will be flying reconnaissance
and rescue missions. To Morris's rescue comes Uncle Davi.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
A second time commander.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Mcampbell has been tasked with forming a fighter squadron and
again tells Morris to give him a letter of request.
Mccampbell says he picks only those men who have a
burning desire to fly fighters in combat. Mcampbell's squadron, designated
VF fifteen, will be flying the new grum And Hellcat,
(06:58):
which is a far superior fire in every way to
the Wildcat, but it doesn't have much more cockpit room,
and pilots still have to sit on top of their
parachute packs. It will be a very tight fit for Morris.
In the spring of nineteen forty four, after many months
(07:19):
of intense training, mccampbell's squadron is assigned to the carrier
Essex by May Essex arrives in the Marshall Islands, now
being used by the Navy as a staging area for
the invasion of the Marianas. While waiting for the invasion,
Essex launches raids against Japanese held Marcus and Wake Islands.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
This gives Lieutenant.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Morris his first tastes of combat. Morris and the others
encounter no aerial opposition from Japanese fighters, but are met
with intense anti aircraft fire. Several American planes are lost
in nearly all, including Morris's, suffer damage. During June, mccampbell's
(08:06):
boys begin hitting Saipan in the Marianas. Morris is in
a group of Hellcats that destroy several seaplane ramps and
nearly a dozen seaplanes on the ground. Then Morris cites
a MAVs that has gotten Nearborn. MAVs is the US
Navy's identification code for the Kawa Nishy seaplane, a large
(08:29):
four engine plane with a crew of nine. The Kawashi
is armed with four thirty caliber machine guns and one
twenty millimeters cannon.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
And you're listening to Roger McGrath tell the story of
Wayne Mars and what a story. Indeed has family roots
in battle that go back to the Revolutionary War. Not
one family member but two goes to La City College
studies acting. In the end, becomes a star. A kid
Galahad makes him a huge star. He do he joins
(09:01):
the military like so many other stars. And an ironic twist,
he pulls strings to get into battle, not to get
out of it, and not just any battle. He wants
to get into the air and this is the most
dangerous of all positions. When we come back, more of
Hollywood Goes to War and more of Wayne Morris's story
(09:22):
here on our American story and we continue with our
American stories and with Roger McGrath's Hollywood Goes to Wars stories,
(09:45):
this time capturing the story of Wayne Morris. Let's return
to McGrath with more of the story.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Morris dives on the big Bird and opens up with
his Hillcats six fifty caliber Brownie machine guns. Uber slugs
rock the Japanese seaplane and cause it to roll out
of control. It plummets into the ocean. Lieutenant Morris has
his first aerial victory. His next action comes a week
(10:16):
later in the Great Mariana's Turkey Shoot, which is what
Navy pilots call the airborne phase of the Battle of
the Philippine Sea. Morris and others of VIA fifteen are
flying cover for torpedo planes and die bombers. When four
zeros drop out of the clouds above and begin a
(10:38):
run on the bombers, Morris takes on the lead zero.
They helcat in the zero each bank and dive and roll,
but it's Morris's machine gun fire that takes effect. The
Zero begins smoking, noses over and plunge his straight down
(10:58):
thousands of feet in to a layer of clouds. Morris
follows it down, but once he emerges below the clouds,
the Zero is nowhere to be seen. Morris soon spies
an oil slick on the water, indicating the Zero must
have plunged into the sea. However, since he didn't actually
(11:19):
see the zero crash into the ocean, he can only
count what was surely an aerial victory as a probable.
For the next two months, Morris and the rest of
VIA fifteen it targets not only on Saipan, but also
on nearby Guamantinian. Most of the time the hillcuts, bomb
and streath their enemy is at aircraft fire. After the
(11:44):
Turkey shoot, the skies over the Marianas have been nearly
cleared of Japanese planes, so more aerial victories will have
to wait. In September, Essex and the other American carriers
begin launching strikes against the Palau Islands, especially Peluloo. Mccampbell
leads the first sweep. Neither he nor any of his
(12:05):
pilots are able to under their kill totals because they
catch the Japanese planes on the ground. They destroyed dozens
of them, but under Navy and Marine Corps regulations, only
planes destroyed in the air count as kills. After several
days of pounding the Palau Islands, Essex and other carriers
(12:27):
are ordered to sail west to the Philippines and strike
at Mindanao airfields. On their first sweep over Mindanow, Morris
and two other Via fifteen pilots spot a Japanese patrol
plane and blow it out of the sky. Later in
the day, on a second sweep, Morris sends a burst
(12:47):
of machine gun fire into a top sea the Navy's
code name for Mitsubishi twin engine Troop transport plane. The
transport's starboard wing tank erupts in flames, and soon the
entire plane is ablaze and spiraling to the earth. It's
Morris's second confirmed aerial victory. Several days later, over Negros Island,
(13:16):
Morris spies a zero blow him. As Morris dives in
banks to get in behind the Zero, the Zero goes
into a steep spiral dive, probably to the Japanese pilot's surprise.
Morris is able to put his Hellcat into an equally
tight spiral dive and fires several bursts into the Zero.
(13:38):
The Zero explodes in a ball of flame, and Lieutenant
Morris has his third confirmed kill. Later the same day,
Morris and ensign Ken Flynn Jump Anate, the Navy's code
name for the Nakajima Fighter. The Night is the Japanese
(13:58):
Army's equivalent to the Japanese Navy's Zero Morris's first burst
causes the Nakajima to begin smoking. Flynn follows with a
burst that causes the already badly damaged fighter to erupt
in flames and roll into a spiral dive.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
That ends in the ocean.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Minutes later, Morris and Flynn go after a zero that's
on the tail of a Hellcat. Morris fires and the
zero explodes in a ball of flame.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
It's number four for Morris.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Seconds later, Morris finds himself flying directly into an oncoming Nakajima.
He hits the Nate with a single burst before banking steeply.
In the meantime, Flynn circles behind the Nate and finishes
off the already crippled fighter. During the rest of September,
Morris gets no more aerial victories, but, together with his
(14:57):
wingman and other violence, is credited with pretty and a
Japanese submarine out of action and sinking two freighters and
several patrol boats. Then in October, in a strike at Okinawa,
Morris dives on a Kawasaki Fighter, Japan's most modern fighter,
the Tony as US Navy code identifies the plane as
(15:18):
an inline liquid cooled engine that the Japanese copying from
the Dambler Benz engine that powers the German Meshischment Fighter.
The Kawasaki fighter tries to outmaneuver Morris by turning inside him,
but Morris is able to stay behind the tony and
pour fire into him.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
The Kawasaki shakes.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
And smokes and loses altitude rapidly. It hits the ocean
and cartwheels spectacularly before sinking. Morris now has the Big
three of Japanese fighters, the Mitsubishi zero, the Nakajima K
fifty seven, and the Kawasaki key Is sixty one, but
(16:01):
kidd Galahad is also an ace. Later in October nineteen
forty four comes.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
The epic Battle for Lee Ti Gulf.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Dave mcamberlan's boys are active in the air over the
Cibulean Sea. Morris gets one zero easily while making a
high pass, giving him six confirmed aerial victories. Later on
the same day, Morris fires at two oncoming zeros.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
But as rounds either miss or have.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
No effect, He then banks steeply to come around and
try again, but finds the zeros turning with him. He
doesn't think much of his chances in tight turns against
two zeros and ducks into a cloud. Instead of going
through the cloud and emerging on the other side, Morris
(16:55):
circles inside the cloud and comes out where he entered.
Just as he has hoped. He finds the Japanese fighters
waiting for him on the cloud's other side. This allows
Morris to come up behind the zeros. A burst from
Morris's machine gun sends one zero spiraling into the sea
(17:16):
and the other.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Scurrying for home. Morris is in no condition to pursue.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
His Helkat has been riddled with bullets, the engine is coughing,
an hydraulic fluid is running into his cockpit. Nonetheless, he
now has seven confirmed aerial victories. By the end of November,
Air Group fifteen completes its tour and Morris's war is over.
(17:45):
He returns home with three rows of ribbons on his chest,
among other decorations. Has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
four times and the Air Metal two times. Is Hollywood's
only ace of the war. He had no easy days.
Three of the helcats he flew were sold badly damaged
(18:07):
by Japanese fire. They were stripped of their serviceable parts
and pushed overboard. Yet said Morris. It wasn't the Japs
I feared, but my own shipmates. Every time they showed
a picture of board Essex, I was scared to death there.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Would be one of mine.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
That's something I never could have lived down back home,
Morris serves in a Naval reserve unit and as promoter
to Lieutenant commander. He also restarts his movie career in
nineteen forty seven after a six year interruption. He will
appear in thirty six movies and be cast in dozens
(18:44):
of television shows over the next thirteen years. In September
nineteen fifty nine, his World War II commander and his
wife's uncle, Dave mccampbell, now Captain mccampbell, takes command of
the carrier bon Hamers. While the ship is in San
Francisco Bay. M campbell invites Morris and some other former
(19:07):
squadron mates to come aboard for a short cruise into
the Pacific, where the carrier will conduct air exercises. On
the way back into San Francisco Bay, he climbs a
series of ladders to the carrier's bridge for a good
view of the passage under the Golden gate bridge. He
(19:27):
reaches the ship's bridge and collapses. A helicopter flies him
to Oakland Naval Hospital, but it's too late. He is
pronounced dead of a massive coronary. He was only forty
five years old. Hollywood lost one of her stars, the
US Navy lost one of races, and America lost one
(19:50):
of her heroes.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
And a great job like Greg Hangler is always on
the production of that piece. And a special thanks as
always to Roger McGrath, author of Gunfighters, Hywoman and Vigilantes,
also a US Marine and former history professor at UCLA.
The story of Wayne Morris here on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories. And now it's
time for another one of Roger McGrath's Hollywood Goes to
Wars stories. Today, McGrath will be treating us to the
story of Hollywood's strapping, steely eyed leading man, Wayne Morris.
Here's McGrath with the story of Wayne Morris.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Wayne Morris was born and bred in California. Thoughie didn't
think about it growing up, he looked like something created
for screen stardom. He was tall, athletic, and handsome. He
was also intelligent and good natured. It wasn't until college, though,
that he got the acting bug. Then the six foot
(00:50):
two and a half and well built two hundred pound
Morris began taking acting lessons and appearing in plays. The
blonde aired, blue eyed college boy was soon signed to
a Warner Brothers contract. Morris appeared in twenty nine movies
by the time he's twenty seven years old, and starred
(01:10):
in most of them, including The Box Office and critical
smash hit Kid Galahad.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
He then walked away.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
From Hollywood and stardom to serve as a Navy fighter
pilot in World War Two. Wayne Morris is born Burt
Dwayne Morris, junior in February nineteen fourteen in Los Angeles.
His father, Burt Dwayne Morris Senior, has New England roots
(01:39):
by way of the Upper Midwest. In Nebraska, there is
a Morris ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
War as an officer.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Wayne Morris's mother is the former Anna Fitzgerald. From Texas,
there is a Fitzgerald ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
As an enlisted man.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Wayne Morris will have a younger brother, Richard Morris, who
also becomes a pilot in World War Two. When Wayne
Morris is still a little boy, the family moves to
San Francisco and remains there before returning to Los Angeles
when he is almost seventeen. Morris graduates from Los Angeles
(02:25):
High School in nineteen thirty two and begins college only
a few miles away at Los Angeles City College. There,
he becomes a theater arts major and starts studying with
the then famous Pasadena Playoffs. He begins appearing on stage
and attracts the attention of a talent scout from Warner Brothers.
(02:47):
A studio gives him a screen test. The camera loves him,
and he's signed to a contract. Morris makes his screen
debut in nineteen thirty six in China Clipp starring Pat
O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart, a fictional account of Pan American
Airlines establishing the first trans Pacific commercial flight service. The
(03:12):
movie has Morris playing a navigator on the Martin M
one thirty C plane. Making the movie gets Morris interested
in aviation. In his next seven movies, Morris has only
two substantial roles, but even as minor roles mark him
for stardom. In nineteen thirty seven, in Kid Galahad, he
(03:36):
gets his chance for the big time with the role
of a heavyweight boxer Kid Galahad.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
His co stars are Edward G.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Robinson, Betty Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. In that tough company,
Morris holds his own and his character makes him the
favorite of audiences. The film is a major success, and
Morris is elevated to the leading man. Morris stars in
a variety of roles in his next twenty movies. While
(04:06):
making the movie Flight Angels in nineteen forty, he begins
taking flying lessons.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
He's soon a licensed.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Pilot, flying regularly and logging many hours of flight time,
with Japanese aggression in the Far East and in the
Pacific increasing, Morris joins a naval reserve unit in nineteen
forty one and his commissioned in ensign. Following Japan's sneak
attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy activates Morrison and sends
(04:36):
him to flight school. By late summer nineteen forty two,
he has his wings. He desperately wants to fly fighters
in the Pacific, but the Navy wants him here at
home as an instructor so he can also make public
relation appearances. Moreover, the Navy considers him too big to
(04:58):
cram himself into the cockpit of a grum And Wildcat,
a Navy's fighter at the time.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Now a Lieutenant j G.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Morris is less than thrilled when he's ordered to a
Navy airfield at Hutchinson, Kansas as a primary flight instructor.
He begins his assignment with resignation rather than enthusiasm, but
the plot is about to thicken. Morris is married to
Patricia O'Rourke, a beautiful young actress. Her mother has a
(05:31):
younger brother, David mccampbell. Mccampbell is a Lieutenant commander a
combat veteran and one of the Navy's top pilots. One day,
mccampbell happens to fly in the Hutchison on a cross
country trip. Morris greets Uncle Dave and pleads with him
to pull some strings and get him into the fight
(05:53):
in the Pacific. Give me a letter, says Mcampbell. Mcampbell
is able to push Morris's letter of request through the
chain of command and get Morris transferred. However, Morris now
finds himself training in Jacksonville, Florida, in the PBYC plane.
(06:14):
The Navy still thinks Morris is too big for fighters.
Morris reckons he will now make it to the Pacific,
but as a PBY pilot, he will be flying reconnaissance
and rescue missions. To Morris's rescue comes Uncle Davi.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
A second time commander.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Mcampbell has been tasked with forming a fighter squadron and
again tells Morris to give him a letter of request.
Mccampbell says he picks only those men who have a
burning desire to fly fighters in combat. Mcampbell's squadron, designated
VF fifteen, will be flying the new grum And Hellcat,
(06:58):
which is a far superior fire in every way to
the Wildcat, but it doesn't have much more cockpit room,
and pilots still have to sit on top of their
parachute packs. It will be a very tight fit for Morris.
In the spring of nineteen forty four, after many months
(07:19):
of intense training, mccampbell's squadron is assigned to the carrier
Essex by May Essex arrives in the Marshall Islands, now
being used by the Navy as a staging area for
the invasion of the Marianas. While waiting for the invasion,
Essex launches raids against Japanese held Marcus and Wake Islands.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
This gives Lieutenant.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Morris his first tastes of combat. Morris and the others
encounter no aerial opposition from Japanese fighters, but are met
with intense anti aircraft fire. Several American planes are lost
in nearly all, including Morris's, suffer damage. During June, mccampbell's
(08:06):
boys begin hitting Saipan in the Marianas. Morris is in
a group of Hellcats that destroy several seaplane ramps and
nearly a dozen seaplanes on the ground. Then Morris cites
a MAVs that has gotten Nearborn. MAVs is the US
Navy's identification code for the Kawa Nishy seaplane, a large
(08:29):
four engine plane with a crew of nine. The Kawashi
is armed with four thirty caliber machine guns and one
twenty millimeters cannon.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
And you're listening to Roger McGrath tell the story of
Wayne Mars and what a story. Indeed has family roots
in battle that go back to the Revolutionary War. Not
one family member but two goes to La City College
studies acting. In the end, becomes a star. A kid
Galahad makes him a huge star. He do he joins
(09:01):
the military like so many other stars. And an ironic twist,
he pulls strings to get into battle, not to get
out of it, and not just any battle. He wants
to get into the air and this is the most
dangerous of all positions. When we come back, more of
Hollywood Goes to War and more of Wayne Morris's story
(09:22):
here on our American story and we continue with our
American stories and with Roger McGrath's Hollywood Goes to Wars stories,
(09:45):
this time capturing the story of Wayne Morris. Let's return
to McGrath with more of the story.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Morris dives on the big Bird and opens up with
his Hillcats six fifty caliber Brownie machine guns. Uber slugs
rock the Japanese seaplane and cause it to roll out
of control. It plummets into the ocean. Lieutenant Morris has
his first aerial victory. His next action comes a week
(10:16):
later in the Great Mariana's Turkey Shoot, which is what
Navy pilots call the airborne phase of the Battle of
the Philippine Sea. Morris and others of VIA fifteen are
flying cover for torpedo planes and die bombers. When four
zeros drop out of the clouds above and begin a
(10:38):
run on the bombers, Morris takes on the lead zero.
They helcat in the zero each bank and dive and roll,
but it's Morris's machine gun fire that takes effect. The
Zero begins smoking, noses over and plunge his straight down
(10:58):
thousands of feet in to a layer of clouds. Morris
follows it down, but once he emerges below the clouds,
the Zero is nowhere to be seen. Morris soon spies
an oil slick on the water, indicating the Zero must
have plunged into the sea. However, since he didn't actually
(11:19):
see the zero crash into the ocean, he can only
count what was surely an aerial victory as a probable.
For the next two months, Morris and the rest of
VIA fifteen it targets not only on Saipan, but also
on nearby Guamantinian. Most of the time the hillcuts, bomb
and streath their enemy is at aircraft fire. After the
(11:44):
Turkey shoot, the skies over the Marianas have been nearly
cleared of Japanese planes, so more aerial victories will have
to wait. In September, Essex and the other American carriers
begin launching strikes against the Palau Islands, especially Peluloo. Mccampbell
leads the first sweep. Neither he nor any of his
(12:05):
pilots are able to under their kill totals because they
catch the Japanese planes on the ground. They destroyed dozens
of them, but under Navy and Marine Corps regulations, only
planes destroyed in the air count as kills. After several
days of pounding the Palau Islands, Essex and other carriers
(12:27):
are ordered to sail west to the Philippines and strike
at Mindanao airfields. On their first sweep over Mindanow, Morris
and two other Via fifteen pilots spot a Japanese patrol
plane and blow it out of the sky. Later in
the day, on a second sweep, Morris sends a burst
(12:47):
of machine gun fire into a top sea the Navy's
code name for Mitsubishi twin engine Troop transport plane. The
transport's starboard wing tank erupts in flames, and soon the
entire plane is ablaze and spiraling to the earth. It's
Morris's second confirmed aerial victory. Several days later, over Negros Island,
(13:16):
Morris spies a zero blow him. As Morris dives in
banks to get in behind the Zero, the Zero goes
into a steep spiral dive, probably to the Japanese pilot's surprise.
Morris is able to put his Hellcat into an equally
tight spiral dive and fires several bursts into the Zero.
(13:38):
The Zero explodes in a ball of flame, and Lieutenant
Morris has his third confirmed kill. Later the same day,
Morris and ensign Ken Flynn Jump Anate, the Navy's code
name for the Nakajima Fighter. The Night is the Japanese
(13:58):
Army's equivalent to the Japanese Navy's Zero Morris's first burst
causes the Nakajima to begin smoking. Flynn follows with a
burst that causes the already badly damaged fighter to erupt
in flames and roll into a spiral dive.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
That ends in the ocean.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Minutes later, Morris and Flynn go after a zero that's
on the tail of a Hellcat. Morris fires and the
zero explodes in a ball of flame.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
It's number four for Morris.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Seconds later, Morris finds himself flying directly into an oncoming Nakajima.
He hits the Nate with a single burst before banking steeply.
In the meantime, Flynn circles behind the Nate and finishes
off the already crippled fighter. During the rest of September,
Morris gets no more aerial victories, but, together with his
(14:57):
wingman and other violence, is credited with pretty and a
Japanese submarine out of action and sinking two freighters and
several patrol boats. Then in October, in a strike at Okinawa,
Morris dives on a Kawasaki Fighter, Japan's most modern fighter,
the Tony as US Navy code identifies the plane as
(15:18):
an inline liquid cooled engine that the Japanese copying from
the Dambler Benz engine that powers the German Meshischment Fighter.
The Kawasaki fighter tries to outmaneuver Morris by turning inside him,
but Morris is able to stay behind the tony and
pour fire into him.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
The Kawasaki shakes.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
And smokes and loses altitude rapidly. It hits the ocean
and cartwheels spectacularly before sinking. Morris now has the Big
three of Japanese fighters, the Mitsubishi zero, the Nakajima K
fifty seven, and the Kawasaki key Is sixty one, but
(16:01):
kidd Galahad is also an ace. Later in October nineteen
forty four comes.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
The epic Battle for Lee Ti Gulf.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Dave mcamberlan's boys are active in the air over the
Cibulean Sea. Morris gets one zero easily while making a
high pass, giving him six confirmed aerial victories. Later on
the same day, Morris fires at two oncoming zeros.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
But as rounds either miss or have.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
No effect, He then banks steeply to come around and
try again, but finds the zeros turning with him. He
doesn't think much of his chances in tight turns against
two zeros and ducks into a cloud. Instead of going
through the cloud and emerging on the other side, Morris
(16:55):
circles inside the cloud and comes out where he entered.
Just as he has hoped. He finds the Japanese fighters
waiting for him on the cloud's other side. This allows
Morris to come up behind the zeros. A burst from
Morris's machine gun sends one zero spiraling into the sea
(17:16):
and the other.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Scurrying for home. Morris is in no condition to pursue.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
His Helkat has been riddled with bullets, the engine is coughing,
an hydraulic fluid is running into his cockpit. Nonetheless, he
now has seven confirmed aerial victories. By the end of November,
Air Group fifteen completes its tour and Morris's war is over.
(17:45):
He returns home with three rows of ribbons on his chest,
among other decorations. Has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross
four times and the Air Metal two times. Is Hollywood's
only ace of the war. He had no easy days.
Three of the helcats he flew were sold badly damaged
(18:07):
by Japanese fire. They were stripped of their serviceable parts
and pushed overboard. Yet said Morris. It wasn't the Japs
I feared, but my own shipmates. Every time they showed
a picture of board Essex, I was scared to death there.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Would be one of mine.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
That's something I never could have lived down back home,
Morris serves in a Naval reserve unit and as promoter
to Lieutenant commander. He also restarts his movie career in
nineteen forty seven after a six year interruption. He will
appear in thirty six movies and be cast in dozens
(18:44):
of television shows over the next thirteen years. In September
nineteen fifty nine, his World War II commander and his
wife's uncle, Dave mccampbell, now Captain mccampbell, takes command of
the carrier bon Hamers. While the ship is in San
Francisco Bay. M campbell invites Morris and some other former
(19:07):
squadron mates to come aboard for a short cruise into
the Pacific, where the carrier will conduct air exercises. On
the way back into San Francisco Bay, he climbs a
series of ladders to the carrier's bridge for a good
view of the passage under the Golden gate bridge. He
(19:27):
reaches the ship's bridge and collapses. A helicopter flies him
to Oakland Naval Hospital, but it's too late. He is
pronounced dead of a massive coronary. He was only forty
five years old. Hollywood lost one of her stars, the
US Navy lost one of races, and America lost one
(19:50):
of her heroes.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
And a great job like Greg Hangler is always on
the production of that piece. And a special thanks as
always to Roger McGrath, author of Gunfighters, Hywoman and Vigilantes,
also a US Marine and former history professor at UCLA.
The story of Wayne Morris here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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