Ernest Owen “E.O.” Harris
101st Airborne Division, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion, Headquarters
Ernest Owen “E.O.” Harris
A Eulogy
On a summer day in June 1944, Isla and John Harris, Sr. gathered with family on the porch of a stone house in Havensville, Kansas to cry and talk about their son, Ernest Owen, while the children of the family “went to the barn yard to sit on the wooden gate and talk about life and death.”
First Lieutenant Harris was no ordinary soldier, and that is because there is no ordinary soldier. For all the details of units and divisions and military strategy that went into making D-Day a success, a true picture of what happened here 73 years ago is incomplete without the understanding that a man from Kansas jumped out of a plane and into a country he had never seen before to put his life at great risk to free people he had never met.
First Lieutenant Harris and his fellow soldiers flew over the Channel en route to their drop zone on the morning of D-Day. Stretched below them was the largest naval armada ever assembled in the history of the world. But wars are not won by armadas, ships, or guns, they are won by individuals. Individuals who leave behind families and friends to fight for something greater. Individuals with the courage to place service before self. Individuals whose stories are often not told. First Lieutenant Harris was one such individual, and I am proud to say he is silent no more.
With knowledge of First Lieutenant Harris’s actions on D-Day, one cannot question the power of his gun, his guts, or his gumption. He embodied the ideal of a soldier with a complete disregard for his own life. He did not, however, have a disregard for life itself. To truly illustrate what kind of a soldier First Lieutenant Harris was, I would like to share an excerpt of a testimony of his actions written by Major Stopka, his commanding officer. It reads as follows:
“During the night of 6 June 1944, Lieutenant Harris did not sleep nor take time to get any rest for himself, by his continual checking the men on the outposts, bringing them ammunition, food, water and even manning their guns while they came back to the garrison to get a break.”
For his heroism in battle on June 6, 1944, First Lieutenant Harris was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
First Lieutenant Harris, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.
