Local Father, Daughter Veterans To Be Marshals Of West Hartford Memorial Day Parade

It was her father’s leadership as an infantry colonel during assignments in Vietnam, Cambodia and the Cold War that contributed to Dawn Morris’ decision to enlist in the Army. She went on to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1990.

“[Soldiers] would write letters to my dad and share what an impact that he had [on them],” Morris said Thursday. “To read those I just thought, ‘Oh to someday be like my dad.’ ”

Morris, 50, has lived in West Hartford the past four years, having moved with her family from the Boston area. She currently works as the executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Webster Bank and Webster Financial Corp. She and her father, retired Army Infantry Col. Charles Carlton, 79, will serve as the grand marshals for West Hartford’s Memorial Day Parade on Monday.

Raised as an “army brat,” Morris said she has lived all over the world. She was part of the 10th class of women at West Point.

Morris said that as a student at West Point part of her morning routine included knowing all of the stories on the front page of the New York Times and being able to report the information back to upperclassmen.

“Some of the stuff that was in the news, my dad was involved with,” Morris said. “It really hits home, the significance of what your dad’s doing when you can see it there.”

As a commissioned second lieutenant in the ordnance branch, she fixed and maintained equipment for troops being deployed — anything from weapons to night vision goggles and generators. She was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and served as a platoon leader and maintenance shop officer. She served for almost six years, Morris said, and then enlisted in the Individual Ready Reserve until about 2001.

Carlton served from 1962 to 1990 as a battalion and brigade level commander, commander of a joint task force in Central America during the Contra-Sandinista confrontation, a participant in the removal of Noriega in Panama in 1989, on two combat tours in Vietnam and Cambodia, and on tours with the Fifth Marine Regiment, the Seventh Cavalry Regiment and the 82nd Airborne Division.

“I’ve been there when people paid the ultimate price,” Carlton said.

He said one memory stands out.

“I was on the radio with a pilot and the helicopter was on fire, it was going down and he said over the mic, he knew there was no hope for survival because the flames were going, he reiterated to me twice — ‘Tell my wife that I love her’ and that always stuck with me.”

Both Morris and Carlton said they were humbled to have been selected as the parade grand marshals, emphasizing the importance of remembering those who served and those who died while serving.

“I don’t think people realize what’s going on, even today,” Carlton said. “We’re living in a real peaceful society, we have the most wonderful country in the world, we have freedoms that most people in the world they don’t have and we have opportunities here. But I think we take for granted that we have thousands of people today, both men and women, that their lives are in peril. They are at the tip of the spear in fighting the war on terrorism.”

The parade is scheduled for Monday at 10 a.m. starting at Woodrow Street and Farmington Avenue and will proceed to West Hartford Town Hall, 50 South Main St. A memorial service will immediately follow the parade at the Connecticut Veterans Memorial at the corner of North Main Street and Farmington Avenue. If it rains, the ceremony will be moved to the Town Hall Auditorium at 11 a.m. Additional information is available online.