They say the campus visit is the biggest factor in where kids go to school. As a seventh grader, Bezan Morris got to tag along when an older brother visited the U.S. Naval Academy on a college tour.
“We got in the car after the visit, and we were heading home,” Morris remembered. “And my mom asked, ‘What do you think?’ And I said, ‘This is it. I’m in. Where do I sign up?’”
Morris followed his two older brothers, both of whom are career Navy, into the service. He graduated from the Naval Academy and went into the Marine Corps, serving from 1999 to 2005 with two tours in Iraq.
These days, Morris is a wealth strategist and financial adviser in Fort Worth for Purewater Capital LLC. He is also board president of Cowtown Warriors, a nonprofit founded in 2013 that helps veterans who are facing hardships. Cowtown Warriors reports it has raised more than $2.6 million since its inception and helped more than 150 North Texas veterans.
“Just knowing a couple guys, meeting them throughout Fort Worth, and kind of understanding what the organization was all about, and then going from there,” he said.
To hear Morris tell it, it was almost inevitable that he went into the service and, once discharged, found a way to continue serving.
An antenna flag, used during large-scale movements to designate where a commanding officer is within a caravan, was gifted to Bezan Morris when he left his infantry unit. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
An Iraqi flag Bezan Morris found in a small college in Baghdad, where his unit made a stronghold, sits in his office. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
Branch: United States Marine Corps
Rank: O-3, Captain
Years in service: 1999-2005
Current title: Wealth Strategist for Purewater Capital
Definition of service: Removing roadblocks for others
His parents emigrated to the United States from India and settled in New Jersey. They instilled gratitude and patriotism in their sons, Morris said. All three boys became Eagle Scouts, played sports in school and were leaders from young ages. His oldest brother served 30 years in the Navy, his other brother, 27.
Of his immigrant parents, Morris said, “They believed in America, they believed in service.”
Morris still remembers every detail of his visit to the Naval Academy.
“I can even distinctly remember walking into Bancroft Hall, which is the main dormitory, and there was a picture of a Marine officer and that picture is still burning (in my memory),” Morris said. “That’s what I’m going to do. That’s my calling. That’s really what spurred it.”
He has keepsakes from his military career: a faded unit command flag that was once flown from the antenna of a 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines battery commander’s Humvee.
Morris’ battery commander routinely took the flag down, but as the company’s executive officer, he would figure out a way to retain it and tie it back up.
When Morris transferred out of the unit, the commander handed him the flag: “Here, you want it?” Morris recalled him saying. “You enjoyed it so much, it’s yours.”
Morris also grabbed an Iraqi banner and still has it.
“It was on the wall, and I yanked it down,” Morris said. “And I remember taking it into one of our intelligence units, and they translated it for me, so apparently what I believe it says is ‘Yes, yes for Saddam Hussein, death to Americans and Zionism.’”
Bezan Morris and his friend 1st Lt. Brian Curtis with two Malaysian infantry officers. This was Morris’ first deployment from February to August 2001. (Courtesy | Bezan Morris)
Bezan Morris and five officers from his battery returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom in May 2003. They were on-board the USS Dubuque in the Pacific Ocean. (Courtesy | Bezan Morris)
He and a small group of fellow officers also got to have dinner with Gen. Jim Mattis, then part of the combat command in Iraq.
“I didn’t appreciate it at the time,” Morris said. “I just remember sitting there. Years later, it’s like, why didn’t I ask more questions? Why didn’t I spend more time? We were all uptight, and he was trying to loosen everybody up.”
Morris’ first deployment was before Sept. 11, 2001, and was an exercise in Asia. He came home in August that year.
“And you know, Sept. 11, and that changed everything.”
His second deployment was in 2003 during the Iraqi invasion, where he was a battery executive officer.
That’s when it hit home for him.
“The exact day, March 20, 2003, and it was the day that combat operations kicked off,” he said. “I just remember the day before, understanding this is real now. It’s no longer a training exercise. There is really somebody going to shoot back.”
Morris remembers the gratitude he felt later on.
“I was fortunate,” he said. “We left with 164 Marines and sailors, we came home with all of them.”
Bezan Morris pulling into Pearl Harbor in June 2003, before returning to California. (Courtesy | Bezan Morris)
An Iraqi tank that Morris says his unit fired on during Operation Iraqi Freedomin April 2003. (Courtesy | Bezan Morris)
Once back in the United States, he left that unit and was assigned to a staff job at Camp Pendleton, California. When he joined the service, he thought he might make a career in the military. But “at this point, I was kind of thinking I might be done,” he said. “It might be time for me to go do something else.”
After the service, Morris worked in commercial construction and in e-commerce. He and his wife — an Oklahoma native — made their way to Fort Worth in 2013.
“Made another career here,” he said. “Became a wealth manager. Got my licenses, and have been doing that for the last eight years full time.”
Seven years ago, he became active with the Cowtown Warriors, serving as treasurer and becoming president in April.
“The first treasurer had it for about six years, I ended up having it for about six years,” Morris said. “It was unintentional. Both of us were in the finance world. It was like, ‘Who’s the guy that’s good at math? You’re the treasurer.’”
Looking back on his military career, he said there were times when he missed the mark.
“I’d love to tell you I was a fantastic lieutenant. No, I was a knucklehead. I did stupid things. I lost my temper for little things,” he said. “Years later, if there’s any of my Marines out there that are watching, I hope I’ve learned. I’ve grown.”
A large banner Bezan Morris found during operations in Iraq sits in his office. The text on the banner translates to “Yes, yes for Saddam Hussein, death to Americans and Zionism,” according to members of an intelligence unit attached to Morris’ infantry division. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
Scott Nishimura is a senior editor for local government accountability and a Fort Worth City Hall reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org.
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