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On April 15, 1948, at Walter Reed General Hospital, Sidney Morey died. A graduate of the class of 1900, he was appointed to the United States Military Academy from Texas; and when I first met him at “Jimmy” Braden’s he was frequently called “Big Tex” because of the fact that he was taller than another member of the class, also appointed from Texas, who was called “Little Tex”</p>
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During the period from December 1895 to March 1896, while I attended Braden’s, there is one episode in which Sid figured that stands out clearly in my memory. One day, as frequently happens when men mess together an argument arose about the food. I say an argument; it was hardly that because we all agreed that it needed improvement. And we decided that something should be done about it. Accordingly we hit on a plan which we hoped would bring the conditions to the attention of the authorities with a bang. It was agreed that that night at supper all but one of us would appear promptly in the dining room and start the meal, and that at a certain signal the entire student body would howl in unison—“We want grub” As for the signal, that was where the one absentee figured. He was to wait until supper was well under way—he then was to throw open the dining room door and stride briskly to his seat. Upon reaching his chair he was to take it firmly by the back and jerk it out with a noise. Upon that sound each candidate was to howl his stuff. But who would be the candidate to give the signal! Sid Morey was unanimously chosen. Straight as a ramrod, decision written in his face, quick and alert, he met all qualifications. So everything went as planned. I'll never forget the business-like air with which Sid entered the dining-room; his assurance as he strode briskly to his chair; the vigor with which he yanked It back; and the thunder with which the words "We want grub" reverberated In the dining-room. Needless to say, official circles were deeply stirred but there were no casualties among the candidates.</p>
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As a cadet Morey rose to be Cadet Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Corps —a much envied “make”. Upon graduation he was commissioned in the cavalry and served in Cuba and Texas, being appointed, in November 1902, Aide-de-Camp to Brigadier General Frederick Dent Grant, Class of 1871, and served as such until the summer of 1903 when he rejoined his regiment and accompanied it to the Philippines. He returned to this country in the spring of 1906, and until September 1908 he saw the usual service which fell to the lot of an outstanding young officer—garrison duty, and student officer at the Infantry and Cavalry School, and at the Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. Then came a four year's tour at West Point as Instructor in the Department of Modern Languages.</p>
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Morey was born at Pittsford, New York on July 19, 1875, the son of a Presbyterian minister. Maybe it was because of his early training in a religious household that he was noted among his classmates and brother officers for his conscientiousness and scrupulous honesty. “Why", said one of them, "Sid would not use the ink issued to him by the quartermaster on his stationery requisition on anything but official papers and signatures, but kept a bottle of ink for non-official use which he bought himself"</p>
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In 1912 Morey went back to troop duty and in 1914 again went to the Philippines. On his return In 1916 he was assigned to the 10th Cavalry, which was then a part of the Mexican Punitive Expedition, and joined his regiment at Namaquipa, Mexico. In this Mexican campaign Captain Morey experienced all the hardships that fell to the lot of mounted troops in a rough and barren country, far from their base. In addition he participated in the fight at Carrizal between about 400 Mexican soldiers and about 80 American troopB, where Captain Boyd and Lieutenant Adair were killed and Morey himself was wounded.</p>
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When Pershing's Expedition was withdrawn from Mexico, Morey went to duty as Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Pennsylvania Military College at Chester, and in the summer of 1917 went to Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont, on garrison duty. His service in World War I can be summed up as follows: Director of Training, 39th Division, Camp Beauregard, Louisiana; Student Officer at the General Staff School at Langres, France; Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3 and G-2, 77th Division, in the Second Battle of the Marne and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive; commanding officer of the 305th Infantry In the last engagement in which the 77th Division participated. After the Armistice Morey stayed in Paris about a year as Commandant of the American Prison.</p>
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On Morey’s return to the United States in November 1919, he was assigned to the Finance Department in Washington, and in August 1920, he was transferred from the Cavalry to the Finance Department, in which Branch he retired on July 31, 1939, returning to active duty during World War II for a period from July 13, 1940 to October 31, 1942.</p>
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While in the Finance Department Morey was detailed to take the course in Business Administration at the Graduate School of Harvard University, and he was graduated there in June 1925, with the degree of Master of Business Administration.</p>
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In June of 1926 he graduated from the Army War College.</p>
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While at Harvard Morey was President of the Business School Club of the University. He was a member of the National Geographic Society; a Mason, a member of the Sojourners, and of the Acacia Fraternity of Harvard University. He belonged to the Atlanta Chess Club of Atlanta, Georgia; and the Chevy Chase Country Club, of Chevy Chase, Maryland.</p>
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He was married June 18, 1903 at Austin, Texas, to Irene Maclin Palm, the daughter of August B. and Della Palm. Mrs. Morey, who is a relative of the former President James K. Polk, is a Colonial Dame. They had no children.</p>
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After graduation I saw very little of Morey although we were both cavalrymen. However in 1941 when I came to Washington for station he was on active duty there. Then I learned of his prowess as a chess player, and as a bridge player. And as the years passed I watched his gradual decline in health, quite frequently seeing him at Walter Reed Hospital during his stays there, at West Point at our forty-fifth class reunion, as well as at an occasional class luncheon at the Army and Navy Club in Washington. As his health failed until he lived in the literal shadow of an oxygen tank, he was game to the last, and now rests on an oak-shaded knoll in Arlington National Cemetery.</p>
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<em>—W. S. Grant</em><br />
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