Mac Glenn Morris was born in January 1944 in Bessemer City, North Carolina. He had two older brothers. His father was an agent for the Southern Railway [Annotator's Note: now Norfolk Southern Railway]. Morris had a great mother. He and his brothers all attended Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. Morris graduated from high school in 1938 and received his college diploma in 1942. Because of his birthdate, he skipped the first grade and graduated after the 11th grade which was the final level required by his school for graduation. As a result, he graduated at the age of 20 from college in June 1942. That enabled him to complete college before entry into the service. He was thus able to get on with his life after the war having completed his education. Morris' mother had attended college, but his father finished his education with the sixth grade. His mother emphasized Morris' need to attend college. Davidson graduated ministers, lawyers and doctors. Morris heard of Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] while he was at Davidson. He and the other students were shocked by the enormity of the event. All the brothers entered the military as a consequence. Morris entered the V-5 Program [Annotator's Note: V-5 US Navy Aviation Cadet Program, 1939 to 1943]. He graduated in June 1943 and assigned to the Marines as a pilot. He was pleased with that decision because he was not a swimmer and preferred land-based duty. While the other recruits were outside exercising in the heat during basic training, Morris was learning to swim. [Annotator's Note: Morris chuckles.]

Mac Glenn Morris flew for the first time in the backseat of a Stearman [Annotator's Note: Boeing-Stearman Model 75 Kaydet or PT-13 primary trainer aircraft]. He achieved eight hours of solo in the aircraft and was pleased to be able to fly. He had never driven an automobile before, but he had run a locomotive. Morris had never thought about flying in his youth. He graduated from Pensacola [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida] with his pilot's wings but did not have a driver's license until a year later. Many families did not have an automobile at the time. Morris wonders about his mother's feelings when her sons were all in the Pacific without the ability to communicate openly with her. He is impressed with the factories in the United States that were modified to produce the war supplies for the fronts. He appreciates the sacrifices made by the civilians as they accepted mandated rationing. The country may not have been 100 percent behind any effort since World War 2. Every segment of the population did their part and did not complain. They were strong people who built our country. The Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975] and Korean [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953] wars were not like that. With his wings, Morris was designated a scout or dive bomber pilot. He had two and a half months of training in Opa-locka [Annotator's Note: Opa-Locka Field, part of Naval Air Station Miami in Opa-locka, Florida] concentrating on dive bombing and navigation. That was followed up by by training at El Toro [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in El Toro, California]. Morris enjoyed El Toro. He had a low opinion of Douglas "Dugout Doug" MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area]. The Marines have a lot of pride in their service.

Mac Glenn Morris joined his squadron VMSB-236 [Annotator's Note: Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 236 (VMSB-236), in September 1943] on Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, Solomon Islands]. The squadron was tasked with mopping up pockets of enemy resistance. They bombed targets of remaining Japanese forces identified by the natives on the island. It was all part of the island-hopping campaign used by the American forces against the Japanese. The natives identified the targets because they hated them [Annotator's Note: the Japanese] worse than the Americans did. The natives had been mistreated by the Japanese. Native intelligence was usually accurate and a key factor for the missions. When Morris would dive bomb, he never saw the results of his run. The emphasis was to exit the area quickly to avoid ground fire. The effectiveness had to be reported by others. A dive was usually at 90 degrees. The bombers worked with the Army for close air support to eliminate enemy elements usually on the opposite side of mountains being attacked. The ordnance would be unloaded in one dive. His plane [Annotator's Note: Douglass SBD Dauntless dive bomber] could carry a 1,000-pound bomb, two 500-pound bombs, or three 250-pound bombs. The plane had dive flaps on the back of its wings to slow it down. The release of the bomb load was at about 1,500 feet. A quick exit was made after that. There was never a chance for stalling out in a dive. No one was ever killed in a dive. Close air support was perfected by the Marines in the Philippines. The SBD flew low and slow but always brought you home. Morris flew 54 missions. There were occasionally briefings particularly if flights were long with many airplanes. Most of the effort in the Philippines involved smaller groups of planes flying relays with other small formations to support ground troops as needed. Ordnance was never brought home. The bombs were released in the ocean or over Corregidor [Annotator's Note: Corregidor Island, Philippines]. Pilots had to be trained on how to perform their missions and return home. The Navy and Army were good at training inexperienced recruits to perform their responsibilities well. Five of 45 pilots in Morris' squadron were lost with two being due to enemy fire and three due to self-inflicted problems.

Mac Glenn Morris flew missions [Annotator's Note: as a dive bomber pilot in Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 236 (VMSB-236)] that were varying in length to support the ground troops. The longest mission was about three and a half hours. The effort was all part of the island-hopping campaigns. He had good squadron-mates. They had some fun times together. He always felt he would do his job and get back home. There was a lot of downtime consumed with poker [Annotator's Note: playing card game]. Much of it was not too successful for Morris. There was little contact with the natives. Morris regrets he did not write home more than he did. His mother and father suffered as a result of him being inconsiderate. Leaving Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines] in July 1945, he returned to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. He thought the use of the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945] was necessary to prevent much greater loss of American and Japanese lives. An invasion of the Japanese home islands would have been far costlier than the lives lost due to the two bombs. Hirohito [Annotator's Note: Emperor Hirohito, also called Emperor Showa, Emperor of Japan] was being overruled by the military leaders who wanted to fight to keep their forces intact. In the end, the two bombs saved ten times the lives compared to those lost. On the way back to the United States, Morris knew he would be headed back to fight the final battles against the Japanese. Instead, he had a subdued reunion with his family and went back to doing what he was doing prior to his service. He was anxious to get out of the military. In the process, he met his future wife. Their marriage spanned seven decades.

After the war, Mac Glenn Morris returned to happy parents but no large celebration. He did what he had to do. He matured fast during the war. He learned people skills and how to size up individuals quickly. After returning home, he worked with cadets out of Corpus Christi [Annotator's Note: Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas] who were learning to fly the SBD [Annotator's Note: Douglass SBD Dauntless dive bomber]. Morris last flew in the 1980s. He was not excited by it. Previously, he flew because it was his job and he had to do it. He no longer had the desire to fly. He had gotten on with his life.