Morris Spriggs '15
Date of birth: April 18, 1892
Date of death: October 24, 1944
Age: 52
Lucky Bag
From the 1915 Lucky Bag:
Morris Homer Spriggs
Paulding, Ohio
"Snookums" "Snooks" "Busque" "Busquelo"
THE sly old fox! The dark-haired, dreamy-eyed, quiet, easy-going youth who, for two and a half long years, fooled the O. C.'s into thinking that he was the most innocent, peaceably inclined person in the whole Brigade. But during the last half of the third year, how things did drop! Navy about a hundred, Spriggs nothing. One Saturday morning, through the clever work of its sleuths, the Discipline Department discovered that artillery had been smuggled into Bancroft and certain sections heavily fortified. As a result of later investigations the Department became so alarmed that they held a council of war and decided that Snooks must go to sea; that it was not safe with him at large. The Sixth Company cry since that day has been:
"Close your windows and bolt your doors—
Snooks is loose with his forty-fours."
To know Snooks is to like him, and to know him well one should have lived three years in the old Sixth. He is very quiet and easy-going by nature, with but few, if any, worries. Occasionally he likes a good rough-house, and on all liberties he is out for a good time. One of his greatest pleasures is in fussing Walt's queens.
You would hardly call Snooks a savoir or a savant, but he stands about the middle of the class without a great deal of effort. He is, above all, a good, practical worker and a great advocate of there being two ways of doing things the right way and the wrong way. He can naturally show youth at his way is the right way. The Navy was made for Snooks and Snooks for the Navy, so there you are.
"Sure I'll drag for you, Walt."
"Rainbow, why didn't you tell me they were inspecting beds?"
Reina Mercedes (2).
Loss
Morris was lost when the Japanese "Hell Ship" he was aboard, Arisan Maru, was sunk by an American submarine on October 24, 1944.
Prior to his capture, he was on the retired list but serving in the "Office of Captain of the Yard" of Naval Station Olongapo, Philippines.
His wife, Marie, was listed as next of kin; he has a memory marker in Ohio.
Career
He had command of USS Davis (Destroyer No. 65) for a week in August, 1919.
In 1924 and for some portion of 1925 Morris was commanding officer of USS S 8.
Prisoner of War Medal
From Hall of Valor:
Lieutenant Commander Morris H. Spriggs (NSN: 0-9001), United States Navy, was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Corregidor, Philippine Islands, on 6 May 1942, and was held as a Prisoner of War until his death while still in captivity.
General Orders: NARA Database: Records of World War II Prisoners of War, created, 1942 - 1947
Service: Navy
Division: Prisoner of War (Philippine Islands)
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Memorial Hall Error
The Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps of 1942 lists him as a retired Commander; he is in Memorial Hall as LCDR, USN.
Class of 1915
Morris is one of 18 members of the Class of 1915 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
