CHARLOTTE, N.C. — U.S. Army Air Force 2nd Lt. John H. Harris, a 23-year-old bombardier from Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, will be laid to rest on Tuesday, nearly eight decades after he was killed in action during World War II.
His family told WCNC Charlotte the discovery of his remains brings them closure they never thought they'd have.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) officially accounted for Harris's remains on June 20, 2024, bringing closure to a long-standing mystery surrounding his wartime sacrifice.
Harris was serving with the 732nd Bombardment Squadron when his B-24H "Liberator" nicknamed Little Joe was shot down on April 8, 1944, during a bombing mission over Brunswick, Germany. No crew members were observed escaping the aircraft before it crashed near Salzwedel, and the site remained unlocated by Allied forces during the war.
A breakthrough came in 2015 when the Missing Allied Air Crew Research Team provided new information about a potential crash site. Investigators interviewed local German residents and discovered a second, previously unknown crash location. Between 2021 and 2023, DPAA teams conducted extensive excavations, recovering wreckage and possible remains.
Scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used anthropological, dental, and mitochondrial DNA analysis to positively identify Harris's remains. His name, previously listed on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, will now be marked with a rosette indicating he has been accounted for.
Harris will be buried with full military honors in Columbia, South Carolina, honoring his ultimate sacrifice for his country.