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Morgan, Harry H. (773rd)

Harry H Morgan 1Harry H. Morgan

Biography: Harry Hunter Morgan was born on February 17, 1924, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the son of James Alfred Morgan and Gertrude Dobson. His father was a veteran of WWI and instilled in him a spirit of service. When he was old enough, Harry joined the Louisiana National Guard. On October 18, 1943, he married Shirley Catherine Venezia who was the daughter of John Arthur Venezia and Mary Myrtle Brand of Bogalusa, LA.

Service Time: Parts of the Louisiana National Guard, along with units from Pennsylvania, were combined to form the 73rd Provisional Antitank Battalion. On Dec. 15, 1941, the 73rd was reorganized and re-designated as the 773rd Tank Destroyer Battalion and Harry was assigned to Company A. The unit shipped to England in January, 1944, and continued training. They shipped to the French coast in early August and entered combat, in the Argentan-Falaise Pocket, on the 17th. Action at the Moselle River, Luneville, the Foret de Parroy and Metz came next, followed by their advance to the Siegfried Line along the Saar River in December. They moved to the Ardennes in early January, 1945, later advancing to Koblenz, Germany, and crossed the Rhine River at Oppenheim. After supporting operations at Darmstadt and Frankfurt, they secured areas along the German-Czechoslovakia border as the war ended. Harry earned a bronze Star, the EAME Medal w/4 campaign stars, WWII Victory Medal, American Defense Medal and Good Conduct Medal.  He was also entitled to wear the Distinguished Unit ribbon. He returned to the U.S. on August 13, 1945.

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Renewed Friendship Article

Harry left the military in 1946 and returned to his wife and home in New Orleans. They had five children, Kathleen, born in 1946, Harry Jr in 1948, Suzanne in 1950, Richard in 1952 and Nancy in 1954. In 1960, Harry Sr. re-enlisted in the Army, serving in Korea in 1961. He stayed in the military and served at a number of locations, holding a variety of key positions, including MP and Provost Investigator while stationed at Camp LeRoy Johnson, LA (62-63); Fort Buchanan, San Juan, Puerto Rico (63-66); Ft. George G. Meade, Maryland (66-67) as a Validations Investigator; Kagnew Station in Asmara, Ethiopia (67-70) as a Unit Supply Sergeant; Ft. Story, Virginia (70-71) as a Supply Sergeant and was the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of the missile site; Long Binh, Vietnam (71-72) Supply Sergeant for the Joint Custom’s Group; Seneca Army Depot, Romulus, New York (72-73) Supply Sergeant. After a 22 year career, Harry retired from the military in 1973, at the rank of Staff Sergeant. He then began a civil service career, working for the Department of Defense, as a security guard at the Seneca Depot. He retired from that position in 1986.

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Harry was a member of the VFW, the American Legion and both the Elks and Moose Lodge’s. He passed away on September 15, 2012, and was buried in Seneca Falls, NY. We would like to thank Harry for his many years of service to the country and his daughter, Nancy, for providing the photos and information used in this tribute.

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An interesting note is the History of the 773rd, currently listed on our 773rd Unit Page was done by Harry.  His daughter Nancy had the document included on a website she had started about the unit.  At the end of the history is the colored map showing the route of the 773rd in Europe and typed descriptions of dates, locations and actions of the unit. That portion of the document was done just after the war had ended.