by Bleep Bloop 10 Replies latest watchtower scandals
If you've wondered what Tony Morris' original last name was, or if he really served in the military, I put up a youtube video today summarizing many of these details. My goal is not to doxx him or his family, but to put some meat on the bones of his life story article, using available public records.
Thanks to the community here that gave me the impetus to dig into this. And I can definitively say that, contrary to popular opinion, his last name was not Esposito haha.
Sorry, it's a long one!
That's an incredible amount of research and the most detailed history on Anthony Morris III or should I say Anthony Morris Jnr since this is on a public forum?
Welcome, BB, to JWD. That's quite a first post.
First, thanks for your research and work—that was no small task!
A few thoughts and observations:
1. Could you put together a condensed version? You would get more people watching it if it were 30-35 minutes rather than nearly 1 hour and 19 minutes.
2. Why did you choose AM II/III and not some other GB member? Is it because more public records are available for him than the others?
3. Any plans to do this with other GB members?
4. Some thoughts on AM's military/Viet Nam service. At that time an enlistment was 4 years of active duty whereas the draft was 2 years. Most draftees went into the army rather than the other services (but admittedly in practice that was somewhat arbitrary). I know one veteran who came back from SE Asia on a huge Medivac flight, a C-140 flying hospital, with men being operated on during the flight over the Pacific, some even dying on board. He said that about half the patients on board were diseased rather than being injured in battle. That's how common getting sick over there was. Some had come down with the very diseases they had been vaccinated against before leaving the USA. Others had diseases that were never fully diagnosed. AM worked in a hospital and was exposed to a large variety of sick patents. Even today in a hospital in far healthier conditions than one in a tropical jungle, nurses, orderlies, and techs often become ill from treating patients, and patients come down with diseases from fellow patients. So I think it's unwise to conjecture why AM became ill.
On a related but really different point, if AM had not wound up sick, we might be able to conclude that he was drafted rather than having enlisted, given his 2 years of active service (but he could have been medically discharged as an enlistee). However, if his being an elistee were the case, we might expect a disability from the VA, perhaps a partial one, common during Viet Nam and still practiced today. Furthermore, the US military is not eager to discharge someone who has two years left on their commitment. After all, they have invested thousands of dollars in that one's training. In sum then, it looks more like AM was a draftee than an enlistee, IMO.
Thanks again for your work.
Thanks for your comments Careful, that gives more backstory to Tony's experience. Yeah, you can tell making videos is not my forte :). I would indeed like to redo it shorter, but right now I'm a little burned out from editing all the word whiskers and whatnot. No plans to do other GB members at this point. I think they were all raised as JWs except for Sam Herd, so I feel like their stories might be a little more boring, to put it bluntly. I wanted to mainly check out Tony's military record; the way he'd mentioned it so much in talks seemed kind of fake to me. Then I ended up finding out some info on his family along the way.
Great research work. Thank you!
Thanks for the great research.
Now I can make the connection to his Macallan drinking. Cut Tony some slack, he may have PTSD that has to be drowned with hard liquor. Being Jesus' brother may not be enough to make him immune to traumas from bad memories, even after 50 years.
Why did you choose AM II/III and not some other GB member? Is it because more public records are available for him than the others?
Ooo we could do David Splane. I found public records regarding mr. Splane. Yes. I fojnd he acheived grade 5 piano....with a distinction, no less.
This is such excellent research, thank you very much. But I fell asleep listening to it last night. I will need to try again.
I was a little surprised you said AM3’s real father was not of interest because he was not around. But isn’t that why he would be of interest? He calls himself Anthony Morris III, after all.
I already suspected AM3’s war experiences may have caused long term psychological trauma. It may also explain any dependency on alcohol, if there is such.
I think I may have fallen asleep before you spelled out if and how Morris inherited money. From his mother and step father who had a successful business? I need to listen again.
By the way, Gerrit Loesch wasn’t brought up JW either. If the same is true of Herd that makes at least 3 not brought up JW, which is more than I would have suspected. I wonder if there are any Mormon apostles not brought up in that church? I somehow suspect Mormon leadership is overwhelmingly cradle Mormons.
Very good effort, thank you for the information.
Anthony's personality and character sounds like certain men who strive to uplift their personal stature, meaning self empowerment in whatever social environment they're in.
Now he has one of the most powerful positions in the WTS organization, he comes off a bit arrogant, self righteous and sanctimonious.
Personally I think just about all of the GB members are bit stupid and ignorant but when its realized they aren't very well educated and they learned bible theology from the WTS's past leaders, its understandable.
BB,
First of all, wish to congratulate you on successfully solving this mystery and providing so much
specific detail. Admittedly, several years ago I had worked on this and was unable to establish who
Anthony Morris was. In investigating the question it only led to more questions.
As of late, I have not stopped by to look at JWs dot com as frequently as before. I was not a JW and as time has passed, whatever emotional stir interaction with the organization had caused... Well, you just have to move on
because there is so much else to do.
Nonetheless, looking back at the investigation that went on several years ago, I believe we were looking around to find some evidence of a Tony Morris involved in protest of the war or anti-war demonstration or court martial on such account. Evidently there was no such thing. ... So who started that rumor?
But this further investigation clears a lot of that up. Long or short, AMIII puts his pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us. He is entitled to believe what he likes, but a lot of what he was doing was Ozzian Wizardry.
Did not endure past one hour, but I did notice a couple of items. Casual, from my own military experience was usually a holding tank between assignments doing odd jobs. I suspect the three letter code was ARN rather than ABN. I don't know what ARN means, but neither were likely related to airborne. Were that the case, his
records might have reflected "wings" somewhere or more specific training related to flying. Wings are not necessarily a ribbon, but there are medals or citations associated with flying status.
JWs should pay close attention as well to AM3's VA benefits. One way he could have passed the time in RI would be with schooling through the same program. he obtained his home loan. It's not that I have anything against it, but there are suggestions that in his official position he has.
Best regards,
K
