Miguel Nava '17
On February 7, 2024 Captain Miguel Nava, USMC '17 was killed in a helicopter crash. Please consider a donation to his family to honor his service, and the incredible sacrifice of his wife and five-month-old son.

MORRIS H. SPRIGGS, CDR, USN (RET.)

From USNA Virtual Memorial Hall
Morris Spriggs '15

Date of birth: April 18, 1892

Date of death: October 24, 1944

Age: 52

Lucky Bag

From the 1915 Lucky Bag:

1915 Spriggs LB.jpg

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).

1915 Spriggs LB.jpg

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.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Morris graduated from Paulding High School in 1910. He was honored with others who died in World War II in its 1947 yearbook.

In September 1915, Morris was on the USS North Dakota when it docked in Pensacola. The ship was greeted by Lieutenants Patrick Bellinger (’07) and Richard Saufley (’08) in Curtiss hydroplanes which encircled the ship. This was the first time this type of greeting was done in Pensacola.

Morris married Helen Leslie Wright on January 31, 1918, in Manhattan. In the late 1920s, he married Maree/Mary Angela (Comini.) She was formerly married to Major Herbert Browning Newland.

Morris' father Frank was an attorney, his mother was Margaret (Pettay) who died in 1908. His father married Cora (Dunathan) in 1909. Morris’ brother Francis Paul became an attorney, and he died in November 1964. His sister Florence became Mrs. James Yenish.

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 (SS 113).

He was a Lieutenant Commander and a member of the engineering department aboard USS Mississippi in the late 1920s; he was awarded a letter of recognition from the Secretary of the Navy for his performance during this time per the Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 138 (August 16, 1930).

His wife, Marie, was listed as next of kin; he has a memory marker in Ohio and is listed at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Photographs

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

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.

January 1915
Midshipman, USS North Dakota
January 1916
Ensign, USS Constellation
January 1917
Ensign, USS Paducah
March 1918
Lieutenant, USS George Washington
January 1919
Lieutenant, USS Perkins
January 1920
Lieutenant, USS O-7
January 1921
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS N-1
May 1923
Lieutenant, under instruction, Columbia University, New York
July 1923
Lieutenant, under instruction, Submarine Base New London, Connecticut

Others at this command:
September 1923
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-8
November 1923
Lieutenant, Submarine Division 12, USS Rainbow

January 1924
Lieutenant, Submarine Division 12, USS Rainbow

March 1924
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-2
May 1924
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-8
July 1924
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-8
September 1924
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-8
November 1924
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-8
January 1925
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-6

Others at this command:
March 1925
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-6

Others at this command:
May 1925
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-6

Others at this command:
July 1925
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-6

Others at this command:
October 1925
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-6

Others at this command:
January 1926
Lieutenant, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California
October 1926
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California
January 1927
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California
April 1927
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California
October 1927
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California
January 1928
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California
April 1928
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California
July 1928
Lieutenant Commander, USS Mississippi

October 1928
Lieutenant Commander, USS Mississippi

January 1929
Lieutenant Commander, USS Mississippi

April 1929
Lieutenant Commander, USS Mississippi

July 1929
Lieutenant Commander, USS Mississippi

October 1929
Lieutenant Commander, Office of Naval Intelligence, Washington, D.C.
January 1930
Lieutenant Commander, engineering officer, USS Chester
April 1930
Lieutenant Commander, engineering officer, USS Chester

Others at this command:
October 1930
Lieutenant Commander, engineer officer, USS Chester


Others at or embarked at this command:
LTjg Oscar Pate, Jr. '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S)
LTjg Seymour Johnson '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S)
January 1931
Lieutenant Commander, engineer officer, USS Chester


Others at or embarked at this command:
LT William Davis '22 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S)
LTjg Oscar Pate, Jr. '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S)
LTjg Seymour Johnson '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S)
April 1931
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor
July 1931
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor
October 1931
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor
January 1932
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor
April 1932
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor
October 1932
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California

Others at this command:
January 1933
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California

Others at this command:
April 1933
Lieutenant Commander, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California

Others at this command:
July 1933
Lieutenant Commander, navigator, USS Milwaukee
October 1933
Lieutenant Commander, navigator, USS Milwaukee
April 1934
Lieutenant Commander, navigator, USS Milwaukee
July 1934
Lieutenant Commander, navigator, USS Milwaukee

Others at this command:

Others at or embarked at this command:
LTjg Robert Larson '24 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 6B)
October 1934
Lieutenant Commander, navigator, USS Milwaukee

Others at this command:

Others at or embarked at this command:
LTjg Robert Larson '24 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 6B)
January 1935
Lieutenant Commander, navigator, USS Milwaukee

Others at this command:

Others at or embarked at this command:
LTjg Robert Larson '24 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 6B)
April 1935
Lieutenant Commander, navigator, USS Milwaukee

Others at this command:

Others at or embarked at this command:
LT Robert Larson '24 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 6B)
October 1935
Lieutenant Commander, USS Rigel

Others at or embarked at this command:
LTjg John Burke '28 (Battle Force Torpedo School)
January 1936
Lieutenant Commander, USS Rigel

Others at or embarked at this command:
LTjg John Burke '28 (Battle Force Torpedo School)
April 1936
Lieutenant Commander, USS Rigel

Others at or embarked at this command:
LTjg John Burke '28 (Battle Force Torpedo School)
July 1936
retired as LCDR June 30, 1936
July 1938
LCDR, retired, living in La Jolla, California
January 1939
LCDR, retired, living in La Jolla, California
October 1939
LCDR, retired, living in La Jolla, California
November 1940
Lieutenant Commander, retired on active list, 16th Naval District

April 1941
Lieutenant Commander, retired on active list, 16th Naval District

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 listed in Memorial Hall as LCDR, USN.


Class of 1915

Morris is one of 18 members of the Class of 1915 on Virtual Memorial Hall.

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