Military Veterans

Seaman 1st Class Clifford Morris served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, 1943 to 1946.   

USS Onslow, a 1,766-ton Barnegat class small seaplane tender built at Houghton, Washington, was commissioned in December 1943. 

Onslow departed the West Coast in March 1944 for the Western Pacific. In April she landed 160 troops on a small island in the Marshalls to mop up Japanese resistance, and in the process repelled an attack by a Japanese bomber.

After six weeks tending aircraft at Kwajalein she moved to Saipan as part of the invasion force. While tending aircraft there in September, one of her planes was boarded by two Japanese swimmers; the aircraft's crew was saved and the swimmers killed but the aircraft was lost.

Onslow then participated in the invasion of the Palau Islands. She was still there tending seaplanes in January 1945 when her anchorage was attacked by three Japanese midget submarines. After a day-long anti-submarine effort, one of the enemy midgets was sunk and two escaped. 

Onslow soon moved to Saipan, where she spent two months supporting small boats in the harbor. With three other AVPs and three large seaplane tenders, she sailed in late March for the invasion of Okinawa, where the tenders set up a seadrome for 60 PBM "Mariner" seaplanes.

She remained at Okinawa until just before the end of the war, and then served in the Asian occupation force until January 1947. 

Seaman First Class

World War II—1943 - 1945

USS Onslow