by Jaime Hanna

John C. "Red" Morgan was born in Vernon, Texas on August 24, 1914.  As a child he saw several barnstorming tours and quickly became enamored with flying.  After graduating from military school in 1931 he was in and out of different colleges trying to find his way - the highlight of his college years was learning how to fly while attending the University of Texas.  His father, a lawyer, was skeptical of a career in aviation and Morgan was skeptical of a college education, so he dropped out.  He worked briefly in Fiji at a pineapple plantation until the tensions in the South Pacific caused him to return to the United States where he attempted to enlist in the Army Air Corps.  The Air Corps refused to take him due to his poor academic record. 

After being rejected, Morgan went to work for Texaco in the oil industry and broke his neck in an accident, which gave him a 4-F designation from the Selective Service Board and dashed his chance of enlisting with any other branch of service.  Unable to join the U.S. Military, Morgan joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in August 1941 as they were less concerned with his academic record and/or previous injuries.  Eventually he transferred to RAF Bomber Command in England.  In March 1943, he was again transferred, this time to U.S. Army Air Force at Alconbury.  He was assigned to the 92nd Bomb Group, 326th Bomb Squadron. 

It was on his 5th mission, July 28, 1943 - one week after he received a Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions over France - that Morgan earned the Nation's highest award.  Morgan was flying co-pilot on a B-17 next to 1st Lieutenant Robert Campbell on a deep penetration mission to Hanover, Germany.  Their trouble started when a group of enemy fighters swarmed their formation just as they were almost across the English Channel.  The oxygen supply to the radio operator, waist, tail, and ball turret gunners was severed unbeknownst to the rest of the crew.  A .30 caliber shell from enemy guns smashed through the cockpit window and sliced through Campbell's skull, rendering him semi-conscious and in a crazed state.  The pilot slumped forward and locked his arms around the controls, sending the plane in a dive.  Morgan was able to wrest the controls and pull the plane back into formation with his right hand while fighting the mortally wounded pilot with his left.  He quickly had to decide whether to deliver the bombs to the target or abort and head back to England.  He chose to press on towards the target and complete the mission, knowing that as a single, damaged plane they would be easy prey for any German fighters.  Campbell, probably acting on pure instinct, kept trying to take over the controls.  Morgan could have removed the pilot's oxygen mask, which at 26,000 feet would have been fatal, but he opted to fight him as long as he was able with the hope that another crew member would eventually come to the cockpit and help him. 

Chaos continued to erupt throughout the plane.  The rear gunners had all passed out due to anoxia.  Morgan had assumed by the silence of their guns that they had bailed out but he was unable to check on them due to the damaged interphone.  The navigator attended to the top turret gunner/flight engineer who had his arm severed by a 20 mm shell and was hemorrhaging.  The navigator decided to bail the top turret gunner out of the nose hatch of the plane, correctly guessing that the 50 below zero temperature would help stop the bleeding.  (The gunner was picked up by the German military, given treatment, and eventually repatriated back to England in 1944.)  The ship continued to pitch wildly due to the fight in the cockpit, but the remaining crew members were unable to leave their positions as they were all busy defending their damaged bomber. 

Two hours passed like this until they made it to the target and dropped their bombs.  Finally, the navigator was able to investigate the happenings in the cockpit and discovered Morgan and Campbell continuing to struggle over the controls.  He helped Morgan get Campbell out of the pilot's seat and dragged him to the nose of the plane where both the navigator and the bombardier attended to him.  As the formation descended on their approach to the English coast, the rear gunners were revived by the better oxygen levels and appeared on the flight deck with varying degrees of frostbite, but all alive. Morgan landed at an RAF base just inside the English coast.  The pilot, Robert Campbell, died shortly thereafter.

For his incredible heroism in the air, Lt. Morgan was presented the Medal of Honor on December 17, 1943 by General Ira Eaker.  Despite being advised by General Eaker not to fly any more combat missions, Morgan insisted on doing his part until the Allies were victorious.  On March 6, 1944, his 26th mission, Morgan's B-17 was shot down during the first major daylight raid on Berlin.  After being hit by flak, his plane exploded sending him flying through the air.  As he was free falling he realized he had only grabbed his parachute - not clipped it on.  He frantically began trying to secure his parachute to his chest harness and was finally able to pull the chute 400-500 feet above the ground.  Captured approximately "10 seconds later", he became a reluctant guest of the Third Reich at Stalag Luft I until V/E day.  He remains the only person to have become a POW after having received the Medal of Honor.  (And he continued to put his number of missions at "25 ½ ".)

Morgan was immortalized in 1948 by Bernie Lay, Jr. and Sy Bartlett when they modeled their main character after him in their book (and later the Hollywood movie), "12 o'clock High."  He even got a nod from General Curtis LeMay, who wrote the following of Morgan in his autobiography, "He flew like a homing pigeon to the target in spite of the fact that he had every right and reason to turn back or bail out."   After the war, Morgan returned to the U.S. and sold aviation fuel for Texaco for 42 years.  He took a leave of absence from 1950-1953 when he was recalled to duty for the Korean War.  After being denied combat duty, he flew cargo planes for two years and then worked an administrative job where he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.  In 1991, he suffered a fatal heart attack and is buried at Arlington Cemetery.