SW030 On Whim, Ex-Paratrooper, Trucker Joins Laumer's Legion for 1988 March to Dade Battlefield; Remains a Stalwart Sentinel

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of podcasts over the coming weeks promoting the Seminole Wars Foundation's virtual challenge, The Major Dade Memorial March to Fort King that launches Dec. 22. Registration to join Laumer's Legion is now open. Visit www.seminolewars.us for details.

Jerry C. Morris spotted the innocuously titled newspaper notice by chance in the Nov. 20, 1988 Tampa Tribune-Times: "Historian to Lead Excursion." That historian was the late Frank Laumer and he was recruiting his legion of soldier-reenactors to recreate the march of Major Francis L. Dade's ill-fated column along the Fort King Road, from Tampa to Bushnell. The former trucker and ex-paratrooper gave it a moment's consideration and told his wife, Linda, "I think I want to do this."

No longer as fit and trim as he was when he jumped out of perfectly good airplanes for the Army in 1956, nevertheless, 50-year-old Jerry signed up. At a planning meeting with the Dade Battlefield Society, the personable Jerry quickly made contacts with living historians who helped outfit him in the proper period soldier’s attire. A month later, in late December 1988, Jerry joined a group of not especially fit middle-aged men to pace the route of Major Dade’s ill-fated march of 1835. Although its composition was not exactly the size of a Roman Legion -- or even a Roman Century, for that matter -- when the trek began, the hard-physical marching soon quickly decimated the ranks hour by hour and day by day until by the time they reached Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, roughly a baker's dozen of hearty troopers remained. Among them was ...Jerry Morris, who said he really only intended to walk one day's worth (12 to 15 miles) just for the experience. But, one foot in front of the other lead to one hour after another and one day after another until five days later he found himself, to his complete surprise, finishing the 60-mile or so trek.

Jerry joins us to tell us first his story of how a scrawny teenager, standing 5'9" and 119 pounds soaking wet, proved the Army doubters wrong about his capabilities and physical caliber to complete airborne training and become an elite paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. Then he explains how that drive, determination, and stick-to-itiveness served him well 32 years afterward when he decided on a whim to become a soldier volunteer again, enlisting in the elite ranks of the historical-enthusiast marchers of Laumer's Legion. Jerry has remained a stalwart sentinel every since, proving himself many times to be an indispensable voice, mover, and shaker in the Seminole Wars' commemoration community to this day.

Once a scrawny 5'9" 119-pound teenager, Jerry built himself into a man "built like a fireplug" (above) with paratrooper jump wings tattooed to his "slab-like" forearm, Jerry Morris set out cheerfully on a whim to march the Fort King Road with Laumer's Legion in 1988. Enraptured by Frank Laumer's captivating campside tales of Dade's men in 1835, Jerry has stayed on with the troop, remaining a stalwart sentinel in the Legion's informal ranks, ever since.

In an Aug. 15, 2015 commemoration of the 1842 procession and interment of the remains of Dade's men into the St. Augustine National Cemetery at St Francis Barracks, an older Jerry Morris (above and below) rides atop a memorial caisson with funeral pall, pulled by 2 elegant mules, owned and driven here by Denise and Tom Fitzgerald.

Completing the march to Fort King has been Jerry's longstanding dream ever since the 1988 march. Relying on a motor scooter for his mobility these days, Jerry even at 82 has never surrendered that desire. On Veterans Day 2020, Jerry registered formally for The Major Dade Memorial March virtual challenge so he can finally reach Fort King, 32 years after he first entered the elite ranks of Laumer's Legion. We'll hear more from Jerry in upcoming episodes about how he researched and documented the full route of the Fort King Military Road, as well as a pamphlet, An Army Moves on Its Stomach, about what soldiers ate as rations in Florida-based Army garrisons and while marching along blazed trails, such as the Fort King Military Road.   

Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. 

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