Lt. General Morris was born in Princess Anne, Maryland in 1921. He graduated from West Point in 1943 and went on to become Chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a position in which he was responsible for maintaining and improving the nation’s largest public works program, flood control, hydropower, navigation, recreation, water supply, beach erosion control, and fish and wildlife.
Lt. General Morris was instrumental in obtaining Congressional funding for the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway, as well as replacement of Locks and Dam 26 at Alton, Illinois, and key locks on the Ohio River, and completion of the Columbia River and Arkansas-White River navigation systems.
General Morris has advised the Peoples Republic of China and is now head of the National Waterways Foundation, working to develop Waterways Transportation Information Service. He has served as vice-chairman of the Water Resources Congress and board member of the National Waterways Conference.
He won Construction Man of the Year Award in 1977 from the Engineering News Record and the bicentennial national award for the Sgt. Floyd vessel exhibition in St. Louis. He was the first international vice-president of the Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses, comprised of over 50 nations, and has consulted widely with scores of foreign countries on water resources and dams.