Australian Dictionary of Biography

Edward 'Jack' Morrison, 1970 by Alan Moore

Australian War Memorial, ART27633

Edward John (Jack) Morrison (1922–1999), soldier and security officer, was born Edward John Hamilton on 2 April 1922 at Korong Vale, Victoria, second of three children of Tasmanian-born Frederick Roy Hamilton, railway fireman, and his Victorian-born wife Evelyn Frances, née Jones. Jack’s mother died in 1928, after which he was adopted by her sister Alice and brother-in-law Archibald Morrison and lived with them at Box Hill in Melbourne’s outer suburbs. After gaining his merit certificate, he worked as a bricklayer’s assistant. A keen sportsman with interests in swimming, Australian Rules football, and boxing, his only professional fight was at West Melbourne Stadium in August 1941.

Having served in the Citizen Military Forces for almost seven months, Morrison enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 25 July 1942 for service in World War II. He sailed for Papua in March 1943 and, joining the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion, saw action around Salamaua, New Guinea. The battalion returned to Australia in early 1944 and on 9 March he married Nellie Mary Becker, a tinsmith, at Wesley Church, Melbourne; they had a daughter in 1946. Following amphibious training, he took part in the landing at Balikpapan, Borneo, Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) in July 1945.

Discharged in Melbourne on 7 February 1946, Morrison worked as a transport driver for Silk Bros, a fruiterer at Queen Victoria Market, but soon desired a return to military life. He enlisted in the Australian Regular Army on 15 August 1950 and joined the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), just before it departed for Korea. Landing in Pusan on 28 September, he fought at Pakchon and Chongju and was promoted to temporary corporal in November. He left Korea in January 1951 but, returning in July, was promoted to temporary sergeant and posted to 3RAR’s medium machine-gun section. In October he ‘displayed outstanding leadership and initiative’ (NA WO 373/115/144) in directing the fire of his section and evacuating wounded at Maryang San. He was mentioned in despatches.

Morrison again departed Korea in January 1952 but returned for a third tour in September. On the night of 24–25 January 1953, he was part of a thirty-man patrol tasked with taking a Chinese soldier prisoner. The Australians came under heavy fire after the patrol was detected. With their officer and twelve others cut off, Morrison led the remaining men in a fighting withdrawal through 1,500 yards of enemy territory. Although the patrol failed to achieve its objective, the Australians were credited with killing as many as eighty Chinese soldiers. His ‘aggressive leadership and courage’ (AWM192/201) was recognised with the Distinguished Conduct Medal and promotion to warrant officer class II.

Returning to Victoria in September 1953, Morrison was appointed as an instructor. A posting to the Pacific Islands Regiment in 1956 was cut short following a dispute with his company commander, and he returned to a training role. Promoted to warrant officer class I on 6 March 1963, he deployed with the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) in September 1964 as an advisor to the South Vietnamese 3rd Battalion, 3rd Regiment. On 8–9 December the battalion’s headquarters on Hill 159 in Quang Tin Province came under attack. He rallied the headquarters and coordinated the defence, despite sustaining serious wounds from a grenade blast. Later, at risk of being overrun, he organised a withdrawal. He was again wounded reconnoitring the enemy position for a counterattack before a relief force arrived and recaptured the hill. Praised for his ‘outstanding qualities of leadership, bravery and devotion to duty’ (NAA B2458), he was awarded a Bar to his DCM.

After departing South Vietnam in June 1965, Morrison was appointed regimental sergeant major of the 6th Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment. Reposted to the AATTV in December 1968, he spent seven months advising the South Vietnamese 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment, on organisation and operational techniques. He returned to Australia in July 1969 and retired from the army on 21 June 1972, thereafter working as a security officer. Having separated from his wife by 1968, he married Patricia Janita Peake in Melbourne in about 1976.

Standing five feet ten inches (178 cm) with dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and possessing ‘a loud, penetrating voice’ (NAA B2458), Morrison was a blunt and pragmatic soldier. His leadership and ferocity in battle earned him the nickname ‘Mad Jack,’ though a fondness for drinking and coarse language occasionally found him at odds with military authorities. Survived by his second wife, the daughter of his first marriage, Evelyn, and two stepsons, Robert and Peter, he died at Mulgrave, Victoria, on 19 September 1999 and was cremated at Springvale Crematorium. The Australian War Memorial, Canberra, holds Alan Moore’s portrait of him.