ORWIGSBURG, Pa. -- Call it a day of reunification.
Members of the Morrison family were reunited Wednesday with Pvt. Joseph W. Morrison, an Army medic killed in action in France during World War I.
Pvt. Morrison was KIA on Nov. 1, 1918 -- 10 days before the end of World War I -- and his mother, Agnes Kissick Morrison, of Auburn, was awarded a Gold Star Mothers and Widows Pilgrimage Medal.
Passed from generation to generation, the medal faded into obscurity.
Agnes Marie Morrison, the soldier's niece, kept it in a safe deposit box in M&T Bank in Orwigsburg for many years. Relatives were unaware of it and, when she died in 2020, the medal ended up as unclaimed property in the Pennsylvania Treasury Department.
With four generations of the Morrison family present, State Treasurer Stacy Garrity presented the Gold Star Medal to Christine Morrison, the soldier's grand-niece before a gathering of 50 people in the Orwigsburg Area Free Public Library.
"This is truly an immense privilege and honor," said Garrity, "to return this Gold Star Mothers and Widows Pilgrimage Medal to the Morrison family."
In accepting the medal, Christine Morrison, who lives in Brooklyn, recalled hearing many stories about her uncle when she was growing up in Auburn.
She was not aware, Morrison said, of the existence of the Gold Star Medal.
"That is what makes the return of the medal to our family a very momentous occasion," she said. "It is quite remarkable but, more importantly, the medal reminds us of the sacrifice made by him and others in defense of humanity."
Christine recounted a letter Pvt. Morrison wrote to his parents that exemplified his character.
"I am pleased that you and father granted me the permission to join the ambulance corps, for I truly feel that I may be able to do my bit in defense of humanity best in this line of work," he wrote while serving with the 554th Ambulance Service in France. "I assure you I will do it when the time comes to the very best of my ability."
To his father, he wrote that he clearly understood the steps he was taking and was likely to endure hardship. "But someone's got to do it, and why should I be the slacker," he wrote.
John Morrison, the soldier's grand-nephew, remembered his uncle was a great athlete who played soccer at Lehigh University, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
"He gave up a promising career to help others," said Morrison, 73, a retired real estate broker in Orwigsburg. "He was a mentor to me, and I've always tried to help other people."
Agnes K. Morrison received the medal on a government-sponsored pilgrimage of mothers and widows to the graves of their loved ones in France in 1933. Christine and her husband visited Pvt. Morrison's grave in the American cemetery in Meuse-Argonne in 2022.
For Valor
"Joe Boy" Morrison, as he was known to his comrades, died while rescuing a wounded soldier on a battlefield in France 107 years ago.
During an attack at Mont Blanc on Oct. 3, 1918, Pvt. Morrison was chosen to go to the most dangerous post, his commander wrote. "I knew he would go and deem it part of his duty."
Working day and night through shell and machinegun fire, he evacuated wounded men and came out of it without a scratch. His commander recommended him for the French War Cross. On Oct. 31, in the Argonne, a German shell came through a medical dressing station and Morrison was badly wounded. He died the next day.
Subsequently, he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for bravery, the equivalent of a Silver Star.
John W. Morrison VFW Post 2198, Orwigsburg, is named in his honor.
Dave Moore, post commander, spoke on behalf of Orwigsburg veterans organizations.
"What an extremely exciting yet somber day in honoring one of our town's own killed in France during World War I," he said. "God Bless Pfc. Joseph W. Morrison."
Christine Morrison said she does not want the Gold Star Medal to languish in obscurity as it had for the past 50 or so years. She would like to donate it to a museum, with the understanding that it would be on permanent display.
Commander Moore offered to have it placed on a memorial wall at the Orwigsburg Veterans Community Memorial Hall.
The Treasury Department's office of unclaimed property has returned 477 military decorations to families, including 11 Purple Hearts and three Bronze Stars, Garrity said. An estimated 488 decorations remain in the department's vault in Harrisburg.
Information on the archive can be found at patreasury.gov/unclaimed-property/medals.
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