George Stephen Morrison

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George Stephen Morrison (born January 7, 1919 in Georgia) is the father of The Doors' late lead singer Jim Morrison, and is also notable for being the youngest admiral in the United States Navy until 1963.

Also known as Steve, he was born in Georgia to Caroline and Paul Raymund Morrison.^[1] Morrison was raised in Leesburg, Florida and entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1938. He graduated in 1942, was commissioned an ensign in the US Navy, and was sent to Hawaii. In 1943 he was sent for flight training in Pensacola, Florida. He graduated in the spring of 1944 and was sent to serve in the Pacific Theater for the duration of World War II.^[2]

Morrison, from his flagship, the Essex-class carrier Bon Homme Richard, was in command of the local fleet during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964. He later became Commander, Naval Forces, in the Marianas in 1972.^[3]

Some believe his Naval career may have been slowed by political undertones surrounding his analysis of the USS Liberty incident which occurred in 1967. Morrison opposed the official US Navy response to the attack, and proposed an immediate and swift economic and military response against Israel for the attack on an official US Navy ship. Morrison's analysis and political motivation was at odds with the soft non-militaristic response ultimately taken by the US State Department and US Navy. Morrison asserted Israel intentionally attacked the USS Liberty, trying to disguise Israel torpedo boats as Syrian vessels in an attempt to provoke a war between the United States and Syria. This would have increased United States military and financial assistance during the Six Day War.

Admiral Morrison was the keynote speaker at the decommissioning ceremony for Bon Homme Richard, his first ship as an admiral, on July 3, 1971 in Washington D.C., USA (just 12 hours after his son Jim Morrison's death).

[edit] Personal

He met and married Clara Clark Morrison in Hawaii in 1942. Their son, Jim, was born in 1943 in Melbourne, Florida.^[2] A daughter, Anne Robin, was born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, was born 1948 in Los Altos, California.^[4]

He currently resides in Coronado, California.

Clara Clark Morrison died in December 2005.

[edit] Notes