Wayne Morr
Photo taken July 25, 2017 at the 229th Ohio National Guard and 37th Buckeye Division event in Columbus, Ohio
Memoir of Wayne Morr from grandson Aaron Houser
Wayne Morr was comrade of Cletus Storm Bortner Jr. They both served in the 37th Ohio Infantry "Buckeye Division" under Major General Robert Sprague Beightler. There were 7 Medals of Honor received and 1094 of those men lost their lives in that division alone. This group of men displayed a great deal of heroism and sacrifice.
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Aaron Houser
I was doing some research on some names of friends of my grandfather's during World War II, and Cletus Bortner was one of them. The search led me to your genealogy site. As you have listed, Mr. Bortner was killed in action on March 9, 1944, in Bougainville during the Battle of Hill 700. My Grandfather, Wayne Morr, was right beside him. For your reference, I've pasted below an excerpt from my grandfather's memoirs about the war. He is 93 years old and I'm sure he'll be glad to know that I have passed Mr. Bortner's story on to his family. I hope my grandfather's account will help with your family's history. Thanks for putting up this site as it is good to see a name of a man that meant so much to my grandfather over so many years.
Wayne Morr
We crawled on our bellies under Japanese machine gun fire to get close enough to throw hand grenades over the crest of the hill and into the ranks of the enemy who were huddled on the other side. When our grenades started exploding we could hear screams from them as the shrapnel found its mark. Then they started throwing hand grenades at us. I saw three grenades come over the hill with little trails of smoke following. Then they hit the ground and came rolling and bouncing toward us. I crouched down in a kneeling position and as I did, I saw another grenade roll right beneath the feet of Cletus Bortner who was kneeling right along side of me. The grenades all exploded about the same time. Cletus groaned a sound like when the wind is knocked out of you. I found myself flying through the air from the concussion. The only painful sensation I had at the time was my chest and ear drums hurt terribly from the explosion. The next thing I heard was the order to get out of there, and we ran back to the assembly point at the base of the hill along the cliff above the road below.
We could see the medics putting Cletus on a stretcher where he lay on the road below. Cletus was riddled with shrapnel and the explosion had blown him clear off the hill over the cliff and onto the road below. This left us crouched along the rim of the cliff waiting for the next order when someone said, "Morr, you have a shoe full of blood and your pant leg is all bloody". So they told me to report to the first aid station. Cletus had shielded me from most of the shrapnel but my left thigh and leg was exposed and I had 40 or 50 punctures of shrapnel from the size of a grain of sand to the size of an eraser on a lead pencil. I was wounded just enough to get me out of the fighting. I limped into the first aid station just as Cletus drew his last breath, and then he was dead. Our chaplain and the doctor were holding his hands in theirs, tears in their eyes.
Wayne Morr was comrade of Cletus Storm Bortner Jr. They both served in the 37th Ohio Infantry "Buckeye Division" under Major General Robert Sprague Beightler. There were 7 Medals of Honor received and 1094 of those men lost their lives in that division alone. This group of men displayed a great deal of heroism and sacrifice.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron Houser
I was doing some research on some names of friends of my grandfather's during World War II, and Cletus Bortner was one of them. The search led me to your genealogy site. As you have listed, Mr. Bortner was killed in action on March 9, 1944, in Bougainville during the Battle of Hill 700. My Grandfather, Wayne Morr, was right beside him. For your reference, I've pasted below an excerpt from my grandfather's memoirs about the war. He is 93 years old and I'm sure he'll be glad to know that I have passed Mr. Bortner's story on to his family. I hope my grandfather's account will help with your family's history. Thanks for putting up this site as it is good to see a name of a man that meant so much to my grandfather over so many years.
Wayne Morr
We crawled on our bellies under Japanese machine gun fire to get close enough to throw hand grenades over the crest of the hill and into the ranks of the enemy who were huddled on the other side. When our grenades started exploding we could hear screams from them as the shrapnel found its mark. Then they started throwing hand grenades at us. I saw three grenades come over the hill with little trails of smoke following. Then they hit the ground and came rolling and bouncing toward us. I crouched down in a kneeling position and as I did, I saw another grenade roll right beneath the feet of Cletus Bortner who was kneeling right along side of me. The grenades all exploded about the same time. Cletus groaned a sound like when the wind is knocked out of you. I found myself flying through the air from the concussion. The only painful sensation I had at the time was my chest and ear drums hurt terribly from the explosion. The next thing I heard was the order to get out of there, and we ran back to the assembly point at the base of the hill along the cliff above the road below.
We could see the medics putting Cletus on a stretcher where he lay on the road below. Cletus was riddled with shrapnel and the explosion had blown him clear off the hill over the cliff and onto the road below. This left us crouched along the rim of the cliff waiting for the next order when someone said, "Morr, you have a shoe full of blood and your pant leg is all bloody". So they told me to report to the first aid station. Cletus had shielded me from most of the shrapnel but my left thigh and leg was exposed and I had 40 or 50 punctures of shrapnel from the size of a grain of sand to the size of an eraser on a lead pencil. I was wounded just enough to get me out of the fighting. I limped into the first aid station just as Cletus drew his last breath, and then he was dead. Our chaplain and the doctor were holding his hands in theirs, tears in their eyes.
From the Columbus Dispatch July 25, 2017
Ninety-somethings steal show at Ohio National Guard and 37th Division event
Side by side they stood, the soldiers and civilians alike, as the 98-year-old veteran with the American flag blanket covering his lap waved from his wheelchair.
This ceremony was supposed to be, at least in part, a celebration of the 229th birthday of the Ohio National Guard (formed as the Northwest Territory Militia). But it was three World War II veterans who stole the show, each having served with the Guard’s 37th Buckeye Division, a storied and decorated unit that celebrates its centennial this month.
So as about 300 people gathered Tuesday on the drill floor of the Guard’s Maj. Gen. Robert S. Beightler Armory Headquarters — named for the Buckeye Division’s revered WWII commander — attention turned to the oldest of the Buckeye soldiers in attendance.
There were 93-year-olds Gerald Shaner of Westerville and Wayne Morr of Beavercreek. They saluted and waved as they were introduced, and the applause thundered.
Then came Edgar Moorman, whose son wheeled him to the front so that he could help to cut the cake using a World War I-era bayonet to commemorate 100 years ago when the Buckeye Division was formed and prepared to deploy in battle. The crowd took to its feet.
Moorman said the whole event overwhelmed him a bit.
“I’m at a loss for words,” he said. Then he smiled and found some. “It was a great honor to serve during World War II and people can’t forget what it was like back then.”
The Buckeye Division (whose descendant unit today is the Buckeye Division 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team) is legendary. Organized on July 8, 1917, the 37th fought in France and Belgium during World War I. But it was World War II when the division really made its mark.
Commanded then by Beightler, a Marysville native, the 37th engaged in continuous combat for almost 600 days. It lost 1,891 soldiers in its Pacific campaigns and seven men earned the Medal of Honor.
In its history, the Buckeye Division has also sent soldiers to the Korean War, and the modern wars on terror. Even now, about 100 soldiers from the 37th are deployed to Kosovo, set to return later this week.
Ohio Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Mann, also the Guard’s historian, went through the rolls Tuesday of some of the soldiers lost to battle over time.
“Are they forgotten? No,” he said, then he pointed to those assembled before him. “They’re living, right out there. And they’ll keep on living as long as the 37th lives. The faces may change, the names, but they’re here. They’re the Buckeye, now and fifty years from now.”
Col. Kevin Lochtefeld, the rear brigade commander of the 37th Division troops who are not deployed in Kosovo, spent time with each of the three World War II Buckeye Division veterans at the ceremony. He said he listened with reverence to the ceremony as the history he knows so well was recounted.
“The history of this division is a point of pride. Through our challenges, our obstacles, our missions — both overseas and here at home — that is what keeps us going,” Lochtefeld said. “If we ever fail, we fail all of those who went before us. ”
Moorman, who served five years and was a radio operator, said being a part of the Buckeye Division was something special. Through those 592 days of continuous combat, as the men island-hopped through New Zealand and Fiji, Guadalcanal and New Georgia, the Solomon Islands and the Philippines, he thought many times that the day at hand would be his last.
“I was sort of set for it, I guess,” he said of death. “I felt if I go, I go. It’s what you had to do.”
When the United States dropped the atomic bombs at Hiroshima to end the war, the Buckeye Division troops were being readied to head to Japan.
“We wouldn’t have survived more combat. We were very thankful,” Moorman said. “It was like a veil had been lifted from our eyes. We could see home.”
http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170725/ninety-somethings-steal-show-at-ohio-national-guard-and-37th-division-event
Ninety-somethings steal show at Ohio National Guard and 37th Division event
Side by side they stood, the soldiers and civilians alike, as the 98-year-old veteran with the American flag blanket covering his lap waved from his wheelchair.
This ceremony was supposed to be, at least in part, a celebration of the 229th birthday of the Ohio National Guard (formed as the Northwest Territory Militia). But it was three World War II veterans who stole the show, each having served with the Guard’s 37th Buckeye Division, a storied and decorated unit that celebrates its centennial this month.
So as about 300 people gathered Tuesday on the drill floor of the Guard’s Maj. Gen. Robert S. Beightler Armory Headquarters — named for the Buckeye Division’s revered WWII commander — attention turned to the oldest of the Buckeye soldiers in attendance.
There were 93-year-olds Gerald Shaner of Westerville and Wayne Morr of Beavercreek. They saluted and waved as they were introduced, and the applause thundered.
Then came Edgar Moorman, whose son wheeled him to the front so that he could help to cut the cake using a World War I-era bayonet to commemorate 100 years ago when the Buckeye Division was formed and prepared to deploy in battle. The crowd took to its feet.
Moorman said the whole event overwhelmed him a bit.
“I’m at a loss for words,” he said. Then he smiled and found some. “It was a great honor to serve during World War II and people can’t forget what it was like back then.”
The Buckeye Division (whose descendant unit today is the Buckeye Division 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team) is legendary. Organized on July 8, 1917, the 37th fought in France and Belgium during World War I. But it was World War II when the division really made its mark.
Commanded then by Beightler, a Marysville native, the 37th engaged in continuous combat for almost 600 days. It lost 1,891 soldiers in its Pacific campaigns and seven men earned the Medal of Honor.
In its history, the Buckeye Division has also sent soldiers to the Korean War, and the modern wars on terror. Even now, about 100 soldiers from the 37th are deployed to Kosovo, set to return later this week.
Ohio Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Mann, also the Guard’s historian, went through the rolls Tuesday of some of the soldiers lost to battle over time.
“Are they forgotten? No,” he said, then he pointed to those assembled before him. “They’re living, right out there. And they’ll keep on living as long as the 37th lives. The faces may change, the names, but they’re here. They’re the Buckeye, now and fifty years from now.”
Col. Kevin Lochtefeld, the rear brigade commander of the 37th Division troops who are not deployed in Kosovo, spent time with each of the three World War II Buckeye Division veterans at the ceremony. He said he listened with reverence to the ceremony as the history he knows so well was recounted.
“The history of this division is a point of pride. Through our challenges, our obstacles, our missions — both overseas and here at home — that is what keeps us going,” Lochtefeld said. “If we ever fail, we fail all of those who went before us. ”
Moorman, who served five years and was a radio operator, said being a part of the Buckeye Division was something special. Through those 592 days of continuous combat, as the men island-hopped through New Zealand and Fiji, Guadalcanal and New Georgia, the Solomon Islands and the Philippines, he thought many times that the day at hand would be his last.
“I was sort of set for it, I guess,” he said of death. “I felt if I go, I go. It’s what you had to do.”
When the United States dropped the atomic bombs at Hiroshima to end the war, the Buckeye Division troops were being readied to head to Japan.
“We wouldn’t have survived more combat. We were very thankful,” Moorman said. “It was like a veil had been lifted from our eyes. We could see home.”
http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170725/ninety-somethings-steal-show-at-ohio-national-guard-and-37th-division-event