Obituary: Morton, Donald A. Jr.
Age 91
“Tuffy” Morton, Jr., who succumbed at his home in Spokane on September 28, eight days short of his 91st birthday.
Mr. Morton was born October 6, 1924, in Wardner, Idaho.
With his twin sister Donella, he was the youngest of the five children of Donald A. Morton Sr., a Silver Valley miner, and Eva Morton (nee Saari), a Finnish immigrant.
Donald Jr. was the last surviving sibling.
Mr. Morton was reared in Kellogg and other nearby mining towns as the family moved to be near Donald Sr.’s current employer.
He graduated from Kellogg High School in 1943 and in August of that year married his high school sweetheart Thelma (nee Chandler), his wife of 59 years.
Thelma predeceased him in 2002.
Shortly after his marriage Mr. Morton joined the U.S. Marine Corps, and after training was deployed to the Pacific theater with the 1st Marine Division.
On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945 PFC Morton, a machine gunner, participated in the landing on Okinawa, the costliest battle of the Pacific war, with over 82,000 Allied casualties.
In a March 30, 1997 column by Spokesman-Review columnist Doug Clark, Mr. Morton recalled eating an Easter dinner of C-rations in a foxhole on the Okinawa beach, waiting for the enemy to attack.
On May 6th, he was wounded by shrapnel from a Japanese mortar shell, for which he received a Purple Heart.
After a month of recovery in a field hospital he returned to the front.
When the war ended in August, 1945 his unit was dispatched to Beijing, China, tasked with disarming and repatriating surrendering Japanese soldiers there, which led to an enduring affection for China and its people.
Upon returning home he devoted his life to providing for his family and to the study of military history, mastering outdoor cooking, writing poetry, and entertaining friends and family with his homespun parables and witticisms.
In October, 2013, Mr. Morton traveled to Washington, DC as the guest of the Honor Flight Network, a charity enabling members of the “greatest generation” to visit memorials in that city erected in their honor.
He is survived by son Gary Morton; daughter Karen Saffer and her husband Edward, and daughter Noreen Landers; grandchildren: Lt. Col. Kurt Saffer and his wife Tammy, Tahnee Dunlap and her husband Dan, and Derek Landers and his wife Molly; great-grandchildren: Taylor, Nicholas, Rylan, Jack and Kaiden, all of Spokane.
Also survived by nieces, nephews, longtime friends, and cat ‘Fuzzer’, his housemate and devoted companion of 17 years.
The family wishes to thank Mr. Morton’s medical team at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane: Dr. David Sams, Denise Raymond, Gram McGregor, Gail McGinnis, Mark Fickert, and the rest of the staff for all the stellar care they have given him over many years.
The family suggests memorial donations be made to: Inland Northwest Honor Flight, 608 W 2nd, Ste 309, Spokane, WA 99201-4430, or to a veteran’s charity of the donor’s choice.