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797. Pensacola's WWII Marine Raiders 1943

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USMC Corporal Thomas "Tommy" Charles Morres was born in Pensacola, Florida on August 26, 1923, the son of Charles Constantine Morres (1884-1961) and Maria "Mary" Bruno (1896-1966). His mother was born in Florida and his father in Akovan, Arcadia, Greece. His father immigrated to American in 1904 and would marry Maria in 1913. He was naturalized in 1917 and three years later he was running a grocery store while living at 408 West Romana Street. Ten years later, the family had moved to 410 West Gonzalez Street valued at $18,000 and still owning their Greek grocery. In 1936, his father had become a bartender and living at 209 W. Cervantes Street. By 1940, his father was managing a restaurant and was living out of an apartment they rented for #25.00 per month at 112 Cervantes Street apt #39. The next year, Tommy was living with his parents at their new home at 312 West Garden Street and working as a laborer for Francis Taylor at the Warren Fish Company.


Tommy would graduate from Pensacola High School in 1942 as did his brother Paul Constantine (1921-2005) in the Class of 1939 and his brother Angelo Charles Morres (1916-2012) in the Class of 1934. While a senior, he and a group of fellow classmates enrolled in a new program to teach them to be aviation engine mechanics. They attended regular classes till noon then reported to the Pensacola Trade School from 2:00-8:00 PM. At least three from the listed group were killed during WWII including Ronald Eddins, Tommy Loggins, and Stamata G. Kithriotis.


His two older brothers enlisted in the military with Angelo leaving for the Army and Paul into the Navy. However, after Tommy's graduation, he would enlist in the US Marine Corps where he volunteered for the newly formed "Marine Raiders," the forerunner of the US Special Forces. The raiders were organized in February 1942 into the 1st and 2nd Battalions. Their training was the most rigorous of its time and only candidates were selected that were aggressive in nature and who would not hesitate to dispatch an enemy with their knives. Later, the 3rd Battalion was added in September followed by the 4th Battalion in October 1942.


According to the Marine Raider Association Tommy served first with the 3rd Battalion in Company "I" and then later in Company "F" of the 2nd Battalion (most likely transferred during Bougainville). Unfortunately, without the dates for each company and battalion, he's difficult to track. However, the 3rd was established on the island of Samoa with only Company's A-E. Company's I, K, L, and M were added later by volunteers. Tommy had been with the 3rd Marine Brigade and after volunteering he was assigned to Company "I". Pensacola High School classmate Vernon Lionel Eddins was assigned to Company "D" and then later to Company's "M" and "L". They would train on the island until January 1943 before departing for a non-combat role on Pavuvu in the Russell Islands.


Their next assignment was the invasion of Bougainville in November 1943. Here, the terrain and climate were the worst anyone ever experienced in the South Pacific. The 3rd (Minus Company "M") teamed up with the 2nd Battalion and were ordered to attack nearby Puruata Island. They finally captured it by the next afternoon with Raider casualties at five dead and 32 wounded. The 3rd then entered the dense jungle on Bougainville to close off the trails used by the enemy where the fighting had become vicious and in close quarters. In the meantime, Tommy's buddy, Junior Harold Montgomery (1923-2016) was fighting nearby with Company "M" on what became known as the "bloody Koiari Raid" of November 29. However, when all was said and done Bougainville proved to be the Raiders last campaign of the war.


By February 1944, the Marine Corps high command decided they no longer needed a special operations unit and disbanded the Raiders. The 1st, 3rd, and 4th Raider Battalions became the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions of the 4th Marine Regiment. The old Raider 2nd Battalion had been decimated in the Solomon's fight therefore they only had enough men to form the "Regimental Weapons Company" within the 4th Marines.


Their next campaign with their new 4th Regiment was the landing on Guam on July 21, 1944. There, they would hit the beaches with the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, that would later become the newly formed 6th Marine Division. It was here in the vicious fighting that Tommy was wounded in action. After a horrific fight, the island was finally captured on August 10 and his parents were notified of his wounding in December 1944.


Tommy's last battle as a US Marine was one of the costliest of the South Pacific war. They would land on the shores of Okinawa on April 1, 1945 and were shocked that there were no enemy forces there to oppose them. Unknown to them, the enemy commander had set his trap further inland and now waited for them to enter it. The battle became extremely bloody as the Japanese were pushed steadily inland. During the latter stage of the battle Tommy was in charge of 13 Marines spread across the rocky landscape along the southern coast. They were looking to wipe out isolated pockets of resistance. Suddenly, he heard gunfire about thirty yards away and saw his buddy Montgomery crouched behind a stone wall. Every few minutes Junior would reach over and fire his .45 pistol at the enemy on the other side. It appeared that Montgomery did not have his rifle so Tommy charged forth and slid behind the wall beside him. Suddenly, a Japanese grenade sailed through the air as Tommy fired a volley at them through a hole in the wall. As Montgomery jumped behind a rock, Tommy flattened himself face down as the explosion went off. Tommy received shrapnel wounds in his backside requiring Montgomery to help him back to friendly lines. He assisted Tommy onto a medical jeep and that was the last he saw of his buddy.


In the meantime, Tommy was sent to a hospital on Guam, the island he had just helped capture the previous year. His parents received another telegram in August 1945 that their son had been wounded a second time. When Tommy returned home, he spent the next 35 years working in his family restaurants. Along the way he married Demetra Michalopoulos in September 1959. She was the daughter of Dr. George Michalopoulos of Pyrgos, Messinia, Greece and was a student in Marquette, Michigan. After a lifetime together Tommy would retire in 1975. But he often wondered if Montgomery had survived the war or had been killed like so many of their comrades. Likewise, Montgomery assumed that Tommy had perished as well. Thus, their lives went on! Then someone invented the internet that gave birth to social media! One day in 2011, a shocked Montgomery received an email from his old war buddy that he was alive and well. Following a hearty exchange the two old raiders met in St. Louis, Missouri in October and caught up on all the news. Junior had started working for the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1941 and had returned to his chosen vocation after the war. He eventually retired from Conrail Railroad as an engineer and earned extra money on the side as a farmer.


Sadly, Tommy would pass away in Pensacola in 2013 followed by his faithful comrade three years later in 2016. Tommy's two classmates from Pensacola High School entered the pale nations as well with Cary Ward passing in 2013 and Vernon Eddins in 2012.

Thomas "Tommy" C. Morres, USMC Raider

Pensacola News Journal 12-2-1945



Pensacola News Journal 12-2-1945


Military Registration Card 1941


Pensacola News Journal 2-8-1942


Pensacola News Journal 8-12-1945


12-18-1944 Tampa Times


8-11-1945 Tampa Tribune


Thomas Charles Morres, Pensacola

High School, Class of 1942


Tommy Morres in later life


Pensacola News Journal 12-4-2011


Pensacola News Journal 12-4-2011


Pensacola News Journal 12-4-2011


Pensacola News Journal 12-4-2011


Wife Pensacola News

Journal 7-26-1959


USMC Raider Junior Harold Montgomery


The "softening up" of the Guam beach landing July 21, 1944


Pensacolian Tommy Morres, his buddy Junior Harold Montgomery, and two of Tommy's classmates from Pensacola High School, Vernon Lionel Eddins and Cary Carlson Ward (Class of 1943) all landed on "White Beach" on July 21, 1944.


During one of his battles Vernon L. Eddins (Pensacola High School classmate) and his Raider force were operating behind enemy lines when they captured several Japanese prisoners. His commander had to make a hard choice as to what to do with them. They couldn’t release them because it would lead to their own capture or deaths. They couldn’t take them with them because they were behind enemy lines and moving fast and quiet. The commander asked for volunteers from among the “unmarried” raiders. The volunteers stayed behind with the prisoners as the column marched into the jungle. Vernon and his comrades heard the gunfire behind the as the volunteers soon rejoined the column and nothing more was said. Such is war!


Marine Raider Vernon Lionel Eddins (1925-2012).

Retired a MSGT and buried Barrancas Cemetery.



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