Kentucky research corrects World War I tanker's record

By Karlen Morris
Special to the United States World War I Centennial Commission web site

A fragment of Corporal Morton W. Atchison's service record that survived the fire at the St. Louis NARA facility confirmed that he was buried at sea after dying abord ship.Corporal Morton W. Atchison, who died of disease during World War I, and was from Owensboro, KY. As a result of an inquiry, his name has been removed from the Tablet of the Missing at the Suresnes American Cemetery in Suresnes, France, and his fate recorded correctly.

In July of 2018 while researching deaths of members of the US Tank Corps I came across the name of a man listed as Missing in Action. I began to look for information on him and found out he was Owensboro, KY. My first step in the research process was to make a post on the History of Owensboro Facebook page looking to see if anyone was familiar with the details.

From the Facebook page I obtained copies of newspaper articles from the Messenger-Inquirer with information on his death. (I have enclosed copies of the 3 newspaper articles) From the articles it is stated that he died of disease and was buried at sea.

From here I sent a message via Facebook to the American Battlefield Monuments Commission to see what I could find out. They directed me to the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO.

A fragment of Corporal Morton W. Atchison's service record that survived the fire at the St. Louis NARA facility.The NPRC was able to locate the Burial File for CPL Atchison. It is important to note that this file was in fact damaged during the 1973 fire at the NPRC. As one can see from the copies that they provided they are burnt along the edges. The NPRC has been going through the burned records and are working to clean and identify the records from the 1973 fire. This is important for people who get the message that the records may be damaged from the fire. I would also like to make a suggestion for any researchers trying to get copies from NPRC. It is very important that you provide as much detail as you possibly can in order for the research technician to easily locate the records. The more detail you provide the more time they can spend finding and copying the records.

From the research I conducted the ABMC had CPL Atchison listed wrong on their website. He is in fact listed on the Buried at Sea tablet at the Suresnes American Cemetery. The ABMC is working to correct the website.

A little about myself, I am Karlen Morris, a Retired Master Sergeant form the Kentucky Army National Guard. I live in Shelbyville, KY but was born in Owensboro and raised in Island, KY. We moved from the area in 1978 but when I served in the KYARNG I served in A Co 2/123 Armor in Livermore, KY until 1993 when I transferred to D Co 2/123 Armor in Owensboro. I served with the unit until 2001 when I moved to B Co 2/123 Armor in Marion, KY. In 2008 I joined the 206th Engineer Battalion in Owensboro as the Intelligence NCO. In 2011 I moved to the 130th Engineer Support Company in Madisonville, KY where I retired from the KY National Guard. All of my time in the Guard was part time or M-Day.

I spend a good portion of my free time doing research on communicating with veterans and telling their story. I have had the pleasure of corresponding with about twenty World War II veterans and learning more about their experiences. I have recently been talking to Korean War Veterans to learn more about the Korean War.

One of the other things I do is help families with research on their family members who have served in the US Armed Forces. I have been working with the town of Island, KY as we have been researching the members of the town who were killed in World War II and World War I.

I hope that the records of Corporal Morton Atchison can be tied together with the rest of his family history in the town of Owensboro, KY. Hopefully this may help some family members who may have questions or is looking for this information.

One of the other reasons I find this interesting is because I am part of a Veteran 501c3 organization, USA Brotherhood of Tankers. I am the commander of the local chapter, Patton Battalion – USABOT, which covers Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. We are working with the World War I Centennial Commission, the Patton family and the town of Bourg, France to get a monument built at Fort Knox, KY for Patton and the US Tank Corps in WWI. The monument is to be placed in Memorial Park next to the General Patton Museum of Leadership.

A fragment of Corporal Morton W. Atchison's service record that survived the fire at the St. Louis NARA facility.

A fragment of Corporal Morton W. Atchison's service record that survived the fire at the St. Louis NARA facility