Woman Sailor Who Jumped Ship Discharged by Navy

Tambra Leigh Morrison, the daughter of a Buena Park engineer, received an administrative discharge from the Navy last week for her mysterious eight-month disappearance from duty, officials said.

She left the Navy and spent eight months as a waitress in Tennessee because she “could not adjust to the Navy way of life” and “wanted to get away to think things out,” said Lt. Richard Poirier, the Navy attorney representing Morrison.

Morrison, who vanished Aug. 3, 1986, from the Port Hueneme-based missile-testing platform Norton Sound, was accompanied by her mother April 13 when she turned herself in to Navy officials in Norfolk, Va. Poirier said Morrison did not have any contact with her family before turning herself in.

Morrison, who could not be reached for comment, received the “other than honorable discharge” May 5, said Master Chief Petty Officer Troy Snead, spokesman for the naval base in Norfolk.

The charge of desertion against Morrison was dropped, and she pleaded guilty to being an unauthorized absentee before the discharge was granted, Poirier said.

Morrison’s rank was reduced from third-class petty officer to seaman before the discharge, Snead said.

Poirier described Morrison as an overachiever who joined the Navy to please her parents but decided she did not like her work. “She had perfect evaluations and was very involved in community service,” he said. “She felt she had to keep being a perfect performer.”

Poirier said that after her discharge, Morrison told him that she feels better about life and that “no one should have to do a job they are not happy with.”

Morrison’s brother John, at his mother’s home in Statesville, N.C., said Wednesday that he was away at college when his sister turned herself in. He said he has talked to her on the phone several times, but she did not tell him anything about why she disappeared and where she went.

“I’m just basically glad she’s back,” he said.

The brother said their mother, Sandra Hill, could not be reached for comment because she was on a business trip.