Joe Edmon Morris, the son of the late B. Joe Morris & Mary Lee Cotney Morris was born on December 5, 1924 in Newberry, South Carolina. He attended two public schools in Newberry County - Hartford & Bush River. After reaching the age 16, his first public job was at a cotton mill located at Goldville ( Now Joanna ) South Carolina working third shift in the card room.
He entered military service at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina in April 1943 taking basic training at Greensboro, North Carolina. He was then sent to Coyne School in Chicago, Illinois and upon graduation was transferred to the Base Unit at Muskogee AAF, Oklahoma where he remained for a year until his transfer to the 36th Photo Recon Squadron. The Squadron was sent to the SWPA from San Francisco in Novemeber 1944 serving in Dutch New Guinea, the Phillipines, Okinawa and finally Japan. After accumulating the necessary points for Stateside rotation, Joe arrived in San Francisco in December 1945 and was discharged January 2, 1946 at Camp Gordon, Georgia.
