D. Clarke Evans Photographer

J.D. ‘Dud’ Morris

Boatswain Mate 2nd Class U. S. Navy
1943–1946

Seaman Dud Morris
San Diego, CA, 1943

It got bad (on Iwo Jima) when we had to take the wounded out to the hospital ship. Worst ones first. I wanna tell you, you’re driving that boat, you see them boys with arms off, legs off—horrible stuff. That stands in my mind a lot.

I was born November 21, 1925 and grew up here in Elgin, Texas. My daddy was a sharecrop farmer. He bought 122 acres of land right here where we are sitting for $750 in 1936. We added to it over the years.

I was 17 when I joined the Navy in 1943. Early in 1944 I got out of boot camp and was sent to Oceanside, California, where every day we practiced for six months landing amphibious boats on a beach. When I got to Iwo Jima, I found out why the training was so hard. We sailed from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor and on to Guam. They called us into a big dining hall and showed us a film of Iwo Jima taken from the periscope of a submarine. It was a little bitty island they had been shelling for 60 days, and getting very little resistance. There’s nothing there, nobody. They were wrong.

On D-Day, 36 Marines loaded up and we were the 4th boat—5th wave to land on Yellow Beach. I remember going in my first time. You don’t look at anything; you stared straight ahead; you had a job to do. As I was bringing the boat in, I could see men laying up there on the beach. My first thought was, ‘They’re pinned down.’ But hell, most of them were wounded and dead. There were a lot of men up there. I stayed on Iwo for 14 months—hauling in people and equipment. It got bad when we had to take the wounded out to the hospital ship. Worst ones first. I wanna tell you, you’re driving that boat, you see them boys with arms off, legs off—horrible stuff. That stands in my mind a lot. And knowing some of them, you were pretty sure they weren’t going to make it.

We found out that on the fifth day they were going to put a flag on Mount Suribachi. We were probably a half mile from the shore. We could see them going up and then all of a sudden someone yelled, “The Flag’s up!” The ships started blowing their fog horns, men were cheering. It was a happy deal, but it wasn’t over. We had 31 more days to go. I finally left Iwo and got my discharge on May 31, 1946.

I am no hero. We left our heroes over there. I’m proud of what I’ve done. Iwo Jima was a special place—the Marines especially. I knew Iwo Jima was something, but I didn’t have any idea it would be what it is.  I’ve had two opportunities to go back and didn’t go. I didn’t want to relive it. It’s too much on my mind now.

I got back and got married in October, 1946. Farmed for a few years, worked in the oil fields, even drove a bus for a while. I got a job with the Texas Animal Health Commission as a livestock inspector. I worked for them for 22 years. Now I’ve been retired for 21. I’ve been very blessed, I’m 91 years old and I’m in good shape. Me and my wife were married 69 years, 11 months and 4 days until she passed away.

The Senior Class of 2003 of Elgin High School made it a class project to find WWII veterans. They found four of us. We had on caps and gowns and they gave us our high school degrees with the rest of the graduating class. We was on the football field. There were about 5,000 people there. I was real proud; we got two standing ovations. I’ve had a good life. {05-30-2017 • Elgin, TX}