JOHN T. HARRIS, 2LT, USMC

John Harris '23

Date of birth: April 7, 1901

Date of death: February 21, 1928

Age: 26

Lucky Bag

From the 1923 Lucky Bag:

John Thomas Harris

Greenfield, Missouri

"Jack" "Foo-foo"

HEY, boys, I'm dragging Saturday." That is what usually greets us about the middle of every week from the tall handsome snake from Missouri. Now I ask you, girls, after looking on such a sublime physiognomy would you think that he is a firm believer in the "Origin of the Species"? It's a fact, a fact well known by his roommates. Being naturally savvy enough to get by the "All Academics" without trouble, Jack has spent many hours "Boning" Darwinism.

John probably thinks his prehistoric ancestors had a long swim because contrary to expectations, he hails from the "show me" State. During June '18 his home "Podunk" was thrown in a high state of excitement by the news of "Foo-Foo's" appointment to the Naval Academy. Then followed a period of "prepping" by our hero at the Missouri University during which time, as well as Plebe summer, he showed the stuff he was made of, and gained many friends. Since those happy days John has easily weathered four heavy seas on the U. S. S. Bancroft.

Happy, easy going, and savvy—that's Jack.

John Thomas Harris

Greenfield, Missouri

"Jack" "Foo-foo"

HEY, boys, I'm dragging Saturday." That is what usually greets us about the middle of every week from the tall handsome snake from Missouri. Now I ask you, girls, after looking on such a sublime physiognomy would you think that he is a firm believer in the "Origin of the Species"? It's a fact, a fact well known by his roommates. Being naturally savvy enough to get by the "All Academics" without trouble, Jack has spent many hours "Boning" Darwinism.

John probably thinks his prehistoric ancestors had a long swim because contrary to expectations, he hails from the "show me" State. During June '18 his home "Podunk" was thrown in a high state of excitement by the news of "Foo-Foo's" appointment to the Naval Academy. Then followed a period of "prepping" by our hero at the Missouri University during which time, as well as Plebe summer, he showed the stuff he was made of, and gained many friends. Since those happy days John has easily weathered four heavy seas on the U. S. S. Bancroft.

Happy, easy going, and savvy—that's Jack.

Loss

John was lost on February 21, 1928 when the plane he was piloting crashed at Port-de-Paix, Haiti.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

John’s father was also named John, and he ran a bookstore in Center, Missouri, in 1920. His mother was Fanny, and his sister was Pearl, a bank stenographer. His brothers were Frank, William, and Richard. When John died, his parents had moved to Greenfield, Missouri.
From the St. Louis Globe Democrat, Feb. 23, 1928: John was killed “… when the plane in which he was riding with Homer Howell, representative of the United Fruit Company, crashed at Port de Paix, Haiti. Lieut. Harris was in charge of the hangar assigned to Col. Lindbergh during his visit to Port Au Prince, and was the first to greet the flyer upon his arrival. … Lieut. Harris visited in Greenville and St. Louis last fall and at that time was urged by his mother and sister to give up flying. He asserted aviation meant life to him, and if he knew he would die in a crash in a week, he would not give it up.”

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.