A retiring 911 dispatcher's final call was to send emergency crews to his father's home after the Vietnam veteran passed away at the age of 75.
Philip Morris was receiving a plaque for his 23 years of service as a Shelby County 911 dispatcher in Alabama when the call came through that father John C. Morris had died.
The son gave his final transmission as '88 command reports, death in the field' - before rushing to his father's home in Columbiana.
'What should've been a great day into retirement turned into the day my father passed away,' Morris told ABC 33 40 News.
But Morris was professional to the end, with colleagues saying they couldn't tell that he had been sending crews to his fathers' house.
Morris added: 'It does hurt, you want to be able to do the job and do it well.
'They say I did - they say you couldn’t tell that I was dispatching to that house.'
Philip left the dispatch office so quickly to be at his fathers' side that he missed the farewell messages from area EMS and fire departments being broadcast on the dispatch radio.
Philip Morris was receiving a plaque for his 23 years of service as a Shelby County 911 dispatcher in Alabama when the call came through that his father John C. Morris had died
Dispatcher Phillip Morris gave his final transmission as '88 command reports, death in the field' - before rushing to be with his father John C. Morris (pictured right)
The broadcast messages are an honor usually reserved for retired or fallen first responders.
One said: 'Phil we’d like to wish you well, thanks for always telling us where to go and how to get there.'
John C. Morris was permanently disabled due to exposure to Agent Orange during his service as a Marine during the Vietnam War. He is survived by three children.
'He was disabled, partially because of it and ended up totally disabled from it,' Phillip said. 'He was a difficult person to live with sometimes but he was my father.'
The now-retired dispatcher told WVTM 13 that the last memorable moment he shared with his father was a fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico two years prior.
Morris has talked seven women through childbirth during his career, a county record, and was nominated in 2020 for the county's Telecommunicator of the Year
'It does hurt, you want to be able to do the job and do it well,' Morris said. 'They say I did - they say you couldn’t tell that I was dispatching to that house.'
The dispatcher's coworkers told news outlets that Morris would be missed in their office.
'His drive to always help, to go the extra mile and help whoever was on the other end of the phone or whoever was in the room with him,' David Strength, another Shelby County 911 dispatcher said to ABC 33 40 News.
Morris has talked seven women through childbirth during his career, a county record, and was nominated in 2020 for the county's Telecommunicator of the Year.
In his retirement, Morris said he would continue his hobbies of crafting custom pens, building boats and running marathons.
