A Military HERO On My Tree! Ernest Roland Morgan

Up All Night
Wow. I guess there's something to be said for going down a genealogical rabbit hole at 4:30 in the morning, after being up all night!

Since I was sleepless, I decided to work on tracking down the families of some of the mysterious people who were named in my elusive grandfather's, 1940 will. In doing so, I uncovered the names of the grandchildren of his second-cousin, Lillian Batts Melton, whom he'd left all of his real and personal property to. One of her descendants was her grandson, Ernest Roland Morgan, who, in 1940, was living in her home, along with his mother, Evelyn, and brothers, Harry and Sherman. His uncles, LeRoy and Larry, were also in the home. My grandfather, Daniel Webster Hill, who died on June 7th of that year, had also lived there, and should have been listed, since the enumeration date was to have been May 1, however, it's a possibility he may have been out of the home and "shacked up" elsewhere, at that time. (Another story for another time...)

Year: 1940; Census Place: Petersburg, Petersburg City, Virginia; Roll: m-t0627-04316; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 115-21, retrieved from Ancestry.com 7/8/2019 at 4:46 a.m.

After discovering all of these previously-unknown-to-me names, I began to follow-up and research each individual. After just a few minutes, I was stopped dead in my tracks as I began to get hint after hint about Ernest Roland Morgan. It was clear that he'd followed in his own father's military footsteps, but information from his death records, as well as subsequent obituaries and newspaper clippings I ran across, showed me that Ernest was no run-of-the-mill, ordinary man. No, this cousin of mine was ALL THAT and a bag of (military) chips! And for me, this is an anomaly for my tree - a tree that's filled with a lot of wonderful people, who did much good in the world, but who were mostly behind the scenes worker-bee types (like me), not those who shine in the spotlight and get tons of recognition and/or accolades. That just isn't who my family's been - and I'm okay with that - but, Cousin Ernest? Cousin Ernest was a STAR!

*Military Accomplishments

Ernest Roland Morgan, General, United States Army (retired) was born March 29, 1932, and he was called back home November 21, 2001, following knee surgery in Huntsville, Alabama. He made national headlines in 1975 when he was captured in Beirut, Lebanon by Lebanese terrorists and released 13 days later.

He went on to become the Adjutant General of the D.C. National Guard and finally the Commanding General of the National Guard of the U.S. Virgin Islands. His military career spanned 35 years. He had a tour of duty in Korea and in Vietnam and retired in 1987.

*Buried at Arlington National Cemetery

MORGAN, ERNEST ROLAND 
MG   US ARMY 
KOREA, VIETNAM 
DATE OF BIRTH: 03/29/1932 
DATE OF DEATH: 11/21/2001 
BURIED AT: SECTION 66  SITE 6267-1 
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

(The preceding excerpts were taken from http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ermorgan.htm. PLEASE click the link to read the full tribute page from Arlington National Cemetery.)

*Appointed Adjutant General of the Militia of the District of Columbia

This next blurb from "Public Papers of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1981 tells about Cousin Ernest's appointment as Adjutant General of the DC National Guard.

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United State: Ronald Reagan, 1981. Published by Best Books on, 1982

*Abducted and Prisoner of War for 13 Days

This next article tells of the circumstances of Ernest's abduction in Beirut. Please click on the link to read the story. Security Forces Search for Missing Colonel Thanks to the sleuth work of my faithful gen-friend and reader, Kristin Cleage, I now have this press photo of my late cousin, Ernest Roland Morgan. It is taken from The Historic Images Outlet and is titled, "1975 Press Photo US Army Colonel Ernest Morgan Released by Kidnappers Beirut" and can be viewed at https://outlet.historicimages.com/products/rsk86671 Thanks, Kristin! :) Lastly, I must share this beautiful article, again, found by my friend, Kristin, which tells of the news of the Ernest's release being broken to his mother and family. And, as an added bonus, there's a photo of his mom (my third-cousin, once-removed), Evelyn Batts Morgan Johnson, and his brother, Harry; so I get to see what more of my family members actually looked like!        CLIPPED FROM Honolulu Star-Bulletin  Honolulu, Hawaii13 Jul 1975, Sun  •  Page 11            * Conclusion So, now I have a high-ranking, notorious, military leader and hero (of sorts) on my family tree! Ernest Roland Morgan was my fourth-cousin on my mother's paternal line, a side of her family we never knew. Our shared ancestors were our third-great-grandparents, Charn (Charlton or Charnton) HILL and Gracey BRYANT, of Tyrrell County, NC. Of course, I'll now start seeking out his descendants, with hopes of learning more about this part of my family. This quick little research jaunt has yielded even more new and interesting facts about this branch of my family tree. There's definitely a follow-up post coming, so stay tuned! * Just an aside: I have to admit that the one not-so-fun thing about this discovery is reading that Ernest died after having knee surgery. I have personally known or known of several people who've gone in for a "simple" knee or back surgery, who ended up six feet below, as a result thereof; but this is the first on my tree. As one who is facing knee and hip replacement, it's a more than a little unnerving to read this. I'm gonna stay prayed up, as I'm preparing for the first hip, soon. Ya'll pray for me, too, if you would! :) Thanks for reading and if anyone connected to this family happens upon this, please reach out to me in the comments or email me at yarsan@aol.com.  Renate
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