Chief Warrant Officer 4
John O. Morgan

CW4 John O. Morgan was born in Talladaga, Alabama on July 17, 1930. Enlisting in the Army in 1949, he demonstrated his leadership ability as a noncommissioned officer during the Korean Conflict by taking charge in combat when his platoon leader was killed.

In 1958, he assisted in the inspection and repair of small arms in Republic of Korea Army support units. He also helped establish war reserve cannon and tank tube requirements for U.S. Army, Korea.

In March 1965, he was appointed Warrant Officer and became the Armament Platoon Leader, 4th Infantry Division, where he reduced weapons backlog to near zero and improved customer relations and maintenance standards. In Vietnam, his forward support area contact teams provided direct support maintenance for units from Fire Base J.J. Carrol to the coast. While Shop Officer at the 705th Maintenance Battal¬ion, he reduced the 2nd Brigade's backlog and improved operational readiness to 80 percent. In 1971, he became Chief of the Heavy Equipment Division in Korea, where he completed a special program, the rebuilding of 5,000 M16A1 rifles, two months ahead of schedule. He extended his tour to organize and set up a shop to rebuild 150 M60A1s and 25 M102, light 105-mm howitzers, again completing the program two months ahead of schedule. From 1974 to 1975, he was responsible for the recovery of $7 million of equipment. Later, he planned and oversaw the execution of a worldwide, total package unit material fielding of more than 1,500 backup computer systems. He negotiated and expedited the return of M102 howitzers from Europe for rapid depot modification, and also contributed to the Army-wide readiness of the 8-inch M110A2 self-propelled howitzer.

Though required to retire in 1983, he returned to active service the next day as arranged by Lieutenant General Register to continue his service to the Army. Mr. Morgan retired a second time in 1988.