Information Sought On 3 Aggie Warriors

An Aggie researcher is asking for the Aggie Network's help to find information on three former students who may have been recipients of the nation’s second highest award for valor.

Project Aggie Valor is an attempt to identify all former students of Texas A&M who were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross or Air Force Cross. To date, 67 awards have been verified. See tx.ag/AggieValor for the current list.

Unofficial information indicates that three former students have been awarded one of these medals, but the awards cannot be verified without additional information.

The three Aggies are:

Jaime Sears Morris ’39 (hometown Graham) — Reported to have been awarded the Navy Cross while serving as a naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise during World War II. He died July 6, 1991, and is buried in Valley Mills, near Waco.

Vernon G. Hunt ’45 (hometown Mt. Pleasant) — served as an NCO with the 133rd Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division in North Africa and Italy.  Reported to have been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He was a geologist for Stanolind Oil and Gas Co. before becoming an independent consultant in 1956. He died Nov. 25, 2001, in Tyler.

Alban Lemuel Birdwell ’45 (hometown may have been Breckenridge) — Served as an infantry officer with the 8th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division, from October 1944 until he was deactivated in March 1946. He was discharged as a captain. Reported to have been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and Bronze Star. Award of the Silver Star has been verified. Birdwell died June 29, 2002, in Port Neches, Texas.

If you have any information or know of relatives of these warriors, please contact Jim Woodall ’50 at woodalljg@yahoo.com or call (979 ) 693-1129.

A book has been planned and these men should be honored. Only those whose decoration has been verified will be included.