Henry Fredrick Morrison was a Motor Machinist's Mate, 1st Class (MoMM1c) on the USS Kete during World War II. He was born on May 29, 1919 in Van Wert, Ohio to Wiley B. and Marie Irene (née Johnson) Morrison. Henry Morrison had one sibling, a sister named Lee Anna (married McIntosh), who was born in 1916. The family came to Decatur, Indiana around 1922. Henry Morrison attended Decatur High School for one year. His friends knew him as "Peck." During that year, he was the secretary of the freshman class. He left high school after that, and went to work in town at the La Fontaine Handle Company, a promising industry that was established in Decatur in 1910. He enlisted in the Navy on December 31, 1940 at the young age of 21. He began training at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In 1942 he set out on the USS Plunger. While she was patrolling enemy waters, she came under attack. This sub was spotted by a Japanese vessel with radar technology that the U.S. did not know they had. The enemy cargo ship was destroyed. This vessel gave him some fame. He was honored with a commendation for his role in sinking an enemy ship. Morrison received commendation from the Plunger's commanding officer, the commander of the Pacific fleet, and the commander of the Pacific submarine fleet. This was the first patrol that the vessel had embarked upon. Specific details were very slight in the report sent home to the Morrison family at the time, according to the article written in the Decatur Daily Democrat. It was not made known where the vessel was located or what enemy vessel it destroyed. Morrison was also assigned to the USS Pogy. This vessel arrived at Pearl Harbor in the spring of 1943. It was credited with sinking 16 ships. It is not known how long Morrison was part of this sub's crew. Henry Morrison's final assignment was to the famous USS Kete. The life of this sub was short. She arrived at Pearl Harbor in the middle of October, 1944. She departed for her first war patrol at the very end of the month. After stops at Midway and Saipan for fueling and repairs, her first patrol ended at Guam. Lieutenant Commander Edward Ackerman took over, and the sub set out for her second war patrol on March 1, 1945. Two weeks later, after some confrontation, she had only three remaining torpedoes. Orders were sent to depart from the area on March 20 and arrive at Midway on the 31st. These orders were acknowledge on the 19th, and the USS Kete set out. The next day, she sent in a weather report. This was the last time that the sub was ever heard from or seen again. All 87 crew members of the USS Kete, including Henry Morrison, perished. Morrison was officially declared missing on March 31, 1945. He was officially declared dead on April 1, 1946. The vessel's fate was unknown. Its last location was in the waters of Nansei Shoto, which is south of Japan and covers Okinawa. This area was heavily patrolled by the enemy, so some speculate that the Kete went down in combat. It was also said that the waters were full of mines; some people believe the sub may have hit one. A few people have even considered that the ship may have experienced a detrimental malfunction. On April 9, 1946, the Decatur Daily Democrat had another entry about Morrison, this time stating that his parents had received word that their son was officially pronounced dead by the Navy. The last that Mr. and Mrs. Morrison heard from him was by a letter written on February 28, 1945, which they received on March 8, 1945, just weeks before he was officially declared missing in action. A letter from the Secretary of the Navy, Forrestal, stated, "...in view of the strong probability that the submarine sank during action in enemy controlled waters and that your son lost his life as a result thereof, because no official or unconfirmed reports have been received that he survived, because his name has not appeared on any lists or reports of personnel liberated from Japanese prisoner of war camps, and in view of the length of time that has elapsed since he was reported missing in action, I am reluctantly forced to the conclusion that he is deceased" ("Decatur Daily Democrat"). After his death, the commander of the Pacific fleet's submarine force awarded Morrison with a citation and the submarine combat insignia. Henry Morrison is honored at the Courts of the Missing, the memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii. His name can also be found at memorials specific to the crew of the Kete, or personal ones such as on the grave of another member, Paul O'Bryan Hayden (Find a Grave), and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. His body, as well as the bodies of the others and the wreckage of the Kete, were never recovered. Due to Henry Morrison's young age and unmarried status, his only known surviving relatives are those of his sister, Lee Anna McIntosh, who remained in Decatur and died in 2010. Most of her children are in the local area. Along with the citations and insignia aforementioned in this biography, Morrison received a number of medals including the American Defense Service Medal, the WWII Victory Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the Purple Heart Medal. The honor of his ultimate sacrifice for America is beyond worthy of recognition and memory. Information collected and researched by Danielle Morrison, 2016.
Ancestry. Ancestry, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2016.
Employees of the Decatur Daily Democrat, comp. 1942, 9 April 1946. Web. 16 Sep. 2016.
Free Family History and Genealogy Records - FamilySearch.org. Intellectual Reserve, Inc., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2016.
Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2016.
"Kete (SS-369) of the US Navy - American Submarine of the Balao Class - Allied Warships of WWII." Uboat.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
Ravelings Yearbook Staff, ed. Ravelings Yearbook. Decatur, IN: Decatur High School, 1935. Print.
Smolinski, Mike. "NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive." Submarine Photo Index. NavSource History, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
United States. Naval History Division. Office of Chief of Naval Operations. History of the USS Kete (SS 369). Washington D.C. Naval Operations Office, Defense Dept: Document for Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Paper, 1969. Print.
"Wisconsin Maritime Website." USS POGY (SS 266). Wisconsin Maritime Museum, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2016.
Wittmer, Paul W. "On Eternal Patrol - Henry Fredrick Morrison." On Eternal Patrol - Henry Fredrick Morrison. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2016.