Father & sons grouping rescued from trash

[Bob Hudson]

An 81-old former Marine here in Oceanside found out that the contents of a deceased retired Marine's house were going to be hauled off to the dump because there were no heirs. He volunteered to take what must be well over 100 boxes of stuff. He's been running yard sales to sell it all at very, very low prices.  I went there Saturday and found some  military documents related to three people with the same last name. I went back Sunday and found some more items and was able to find some more info about the family.

 

What we have is father Mitchell Aubrey Morgan who was born in 1911 and served in the Navy from 1929 to 1934, mostly in the Asiatic Fleet (he served in the Merchant Marine in WWII), son Edward David Morgan, who served in the Army in Vietnam with the 28th Infantry and was awarded an Army Commendation Medal with "V," and son Mitchell Peter Morgan who served in the Marines from 1953 to 1981, including Vietnam service with 1st Battalion 11th Marines. 

 

I have another thread showing the father's Asiatic Fleet scrap book: https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/363861-asiatic-fleet-1930s-scrapbook-uss-black-hawk-henderson/

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

Son Edward  served with 1st Battalion 28th Infantry and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal with Valor device for heroism on 27 July 1967 when the brigade's base camp at Phuoc Vinh came under mortar and rocket attack. He also received a unit certificate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dave peifer]

great save bob.........with that many boxes there must be a lot more.....................dave

[Bob Hudson]

Son Mitchell (who went by his middle name Peter) was in the Marines for 28 tears, retiring as a Staff Sergeant in 1981. The online USMC Muster Rolls only go through 1958, but I did find elsewhere his sevice in Vietnam with HQ 1/11  Marines. The ribbon's reflect that combat service. There is a named notepad and a Japanese Kogatana wood carving knife he picked up in Okinawa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

The father served aboard the USS Black Hawk which was a tender to Desroyer Squadron 5. His scrapbook has a couple momentos  from the USS Henderson, which was Uber for Marines serving in the Pacific pre-war. https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/363861-asiatic-fleet-1930s-scrapbook-uss-black-hawk-henderson/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[P-40Warhawk]

Nice save Bob! It's sad to see how this ended up, but a happy ending that it's been preserved for the future; they won't be forgotten!

[Bob Hudson]

On 10/18/2021 at 9:50 AM, dave peifer said:

great save bob.........with that many boxes there must be a lot more.....................dave

 

I went back today and got some photocopies of some of his DD 214's: here's an excerpt from one of them:

 

 

I almost forgot about this plaque I picked up on Saturday:

 

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

Those Marine ribbons are still pinned to a 1966 contract date  green service uniform just as he placed them. It's size 46L, very large for a Marine Corps uniform: 

 

Note how the Japanese knife scabbard mimics his left sleeve:

 

 

[Brig]

No idea how you turn up all this stuff in a military town...I have never had any luck in the towns I've been stationed.

[American Heritage]

Awesome!!

[Fromthepastcollections]

So glad you were able to save this!