VETERANS' DAY - WAYNE MORRIS OF THE TRUENIVERSE

FOR VETERAN'S DAY
NOVEMBER 11, 2016

'MADAM SECRETARY' 
"SOUTH CHINA SEA"

PRESIDENT CONRAD DALTON:
Good evening, my fellow Americans. 

As many of you are aware, earlier today, a Chinese fighter jet struck the aircraft carrier USS Wayne Morris in the South China Sea, taking the lives of three American sailors and wounding many others.

During tense negotiations with China, a Chinese fighter jet clipped the con tower on the USS Wayne Morris, killing three sailors and injuring others. 

In the real world, there appears to be no ship named the Wayne Morris. There is no Navy ship by that name in the real world; no need to do any research into the possibility that there might be one in Toobworld as 'Madam Secretary' takes place in an alternate TV dimension where Conrad Dalton is the POTUS. 

So could it be that the USS Wayne Morris in that dimension is named after the most famous person to bear that name?

From Wikipedia:
Wayne Morris (February 17, 1914 – September 14, 1959) was an American film and television actor, as well as a decorated World War II fighter ace. He appeared in many notable films, including "Paths of Glory" (1957), "The Bushwackers" (1952), and the title role of "Kid Galahad" in 1937.

While filming "Flight Angels" (1940), Morris became interested in flying and became a pilot. With war in the wind, he joined the Naval Reserve and became a Navy flier in 1942, leaving his film career behind for the duration of the war. He flew the F6F Hellcat off the aircraft carrier USS Essex.

A December 15, 1944 Associated Press news story reported that Morris was "credited with 57 aerial sorties, shooting down seven Jap Zeros, sinking an escort vessel and a flak gunboat and helping sink a submarine and damage a heavy cruiser and a mine layer."

He was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals. He flew with the VF-15, the famed "McCampbell Heroes."

Morris died of a coronary occlusion September 14, 1959, aboard the USS Bon Homme Richard. 

There's no problem with the assumption that a Real Worlder like Wayne Morris existed in that Toobworld; after all, in various episodes of the show, we saw the real Madeline Albright, Jane Pauley, and Bob Schieffer. 

But he didn't have to lead the exact same life as the original from Earth Prime-Time. Remember, there had to be changes in the lives of other Real Worlders in order to bring about a world in which Conrad Dalton became President of the United States. 

As a fighter pilot the Wayne Morris of this alternate Toobworld may have done something else during the war to warrant having a major Navy vessel named after him in that world. He may have even have been in a different branch of the military. 

So today, Veteran's Day, Toobworld Central is saluting the memory of Wayne Morris of the Real World in thanks for his service during WWII. We're glad this trivial tip of the hat to his counterpart in the fictional TV dimension of 'Madam Secretary' brought him to notice again. 

BCnU!