Lieutenant William Weir Harris Jr.

Bronze Star

William Weir Harris Jr. was born in Jenks Oklahoma on December 12, 1919 to Earl and Doll Williams. He was raised in Oklahoma until the mid 30’s when he moved with his mother to Ft Smith Arkansas. There he enrolled at Ft Smith HS and graduated in 1938. The next fall he enrolled at NMAMC and attended for four years studying Engineering. While in school he was President of the SAE fraternity and voted the Most Popular Boy in the yearbook. In May 1942 he entered the US Army and a few months later in August he married the former Nina Sears. He completed training and was assigned as an Infantry Officer to the 175th Infantry regiment, 29th Infantry Division. In December 1943 the unit shipped to England to await the planned invasion of Europe. On June 7th (D+1) his unit was landed on Omaha Beach and began fighting its way inland. Just 10 days later they were assigned to take Hill 108. The y successfully stormed the hill and took it but on the next day, June 18, the Germans launched a heavy counterattack which resulted in severe losses to the 175th including the death of Lt Harris. In a letter to his wife his commander described how he had gone to the aid of a wounded comrade and in so doing was mortally wounded. For those actions he was awarded the Bronze Star. The carnage from the counterattack was so great that they were unable to identify his remains. Today he is memorialized at the Normandy American Cemetery Tablet of the Missing. Lt William Harris was 23 years of age at the time of his death.