Morris, John Owen
Navy Reserves Aviation machinist’s mate 2

John Owen Morris, age 22, from Seattle, Washington, King county.

Spouse: Margaret Mary Morris

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Thursday, December 16, 1943
Death details: On September 13, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Aviation Machinist’s Mate First Class John Owen Morris, missing from World War II. Aviation Machinist’s Mate First Class Morris, who entered the U.S. Navy from Washington, served in Carrier Aircraft Service Unit 17. He was killed by a gunshot discharge on December 16, 1943, within the weeks following the Battle of Tarawa, and was buried on Betio in Cemetery 33; however, he could not be identified among the remains disinterred from the island following the war. In 2015, the nongovernmental organization History Flight, Inc. discovered a burial site on Betio Island from which they recovered the remains of U.S. Marines who fought during the Battle of Tarawa, and DPAA analysts used modern forensic technology to eventually identified AMM1 Morris from these collective remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency