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 FORT HOOD, Texas – When Vietnam veteran John L. Harris
opened his apartment door on a bleak March morning in 2007,
he saw standing in front of him the worst nightmare of every
service member's parent - soldiers in Class A dress with
somber expressions.
Every day since he has dedicated
his life to helping parents across the U.S. face such
tragedy, while continuing the healing process for himself.
John L. Harris enlisted in 1969 as an Armor Crewman,
where he would go on to serve for two decades, including a
tour of Vietnam from 1971 to 1972 with Headquarters and
Headquarter Company, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st
Cavalry Division, as a Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) door
gunner.
“We were the first bird to arrive at the
landing zone and the last one to leave,” Harris said. “We
usually flew for 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry's commander and
his soldiers. If any of his units received contact we would
go and immediately pick the commander up.”
 During his
combat tour, Harris was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with
Valor for his actions in rescuing crewmembers off a fallen
Boeing AH-6 while being engaged by multiple enemy sources.
“If we were fired upon, we would pop red smoke to let
friendly's know what to expect,” Harris said. “We never left
a soldier behind, no matter what, and those crewmembers were
no exception.”
After leaving active duty, Harris
began settling down in Colorado and was married to his wife,
Deborah, in 1982. They would go on to have their only child,
Blake A. Harris, on April 25, 1984.
Immediately young
Blake began imitating his father who he would often see in
uniform at a young and impressionable age, Harris noted.
“He was a good kid, and he wanted to be like me,” Harris
said. “He would see me in my uniform when he was a child and
I think that rubbed off on him, as he always wanted to be a
soldier like me when he was growing up.”
Blake grew
up in Central Colorado and would go on to graduate from
Pueblo South High School, Colorado in 2002. He was then sent
to Fort Benning, Ga. as part of the delayed entry program,
where he began his training as an Indirect Fire Infantryman.
“I didn't hear from him much during training, but I saw
him during his [advanced individual training] graduation and
even had the chance to pin his blue cord on,” Harris said.
“He said he enjoyed being in, and I was proud of him, and
still am.”
After leaving Fort Benning, Blake was
stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, where he showed up at
reception with a small clerical error in his paperwork,
which prevented him from having a unit of assignment.
“Once Blake got there, he didn't have a unit to report
to,” Harris explained. “So he told the receptionist his
father was in the Cav. The receptionist quipped back, ‘Once
Cav always Cav,' and he was sent to 3rd Brigade, 2-7 Cav.”
Upon arriving to the unit, Blake was deployed a year
later to Iraq in 2005 where he would provide crucial support
to the Marines in Fallujah.
“He'd call me once in a
while and he sounded so upbeat,” Harris said. “He'd tell me
he was helping people out, and that he was doing great
things which weren't always being reported on the news. He
liked is to so much he even reenlisted over there.”
After redeploying, Blake wed his girlfriend he knew since
high school in Pueblo, and they had had son, Jonah, Oct. 31,
2004.
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Sgt. Blake A. Harris (right) poses with
friend Pfc. Adam Barnes outside of Baghdad in 2005 during their
first overseas tour. Harris was killed in action in Baqubah, Iraq,
March 5, 2007, by a command detonated improvised explosive device
during his second deployment with the 1st Cavalry Division.
(Courtesy Photo, 1st ACB Public Affairs, 1st Cav. Division)
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“He came back from his deployment and he got
married in Pueblo, which he was so excited about,” Harris
said. “After his leave was over, we loaded up his truck and
I helped him move to Copperas Cove, Texas. He was so happy
during this time; he was following in the footsteps of his
father, just as he always wanted to.”
Shortly after
coming back to Texas, 2-7 Cav was redesignated 1-12 Cav, and
a short time later Blake received orders he was heading back
to Iraq for a year to serve at Forward Operating Base
Warhorse.
“Before deploying again, Blake came and
visited me for two or three days, and we just goofed off and
had a blast,” Harris said. “It was then that he told me if
anything happened to him, he wanted me to be in charge of
his remains. It made me feel unnerved, but I didn't ask any
further questions about it; I assumed it would never happen
to me.”
On March 5th, 2007, 22-year-old Sgt. Blake A.
Harris was killed in action in Baqubah, Iraq, by a command
detonated improvised explosive device, while providing
support as part of a security detail to VIPs, much like his
dad before him did countless times with the Cav in Vietnam.
“At nine that morning, I received a buzz at my
apartment door, and when I looked out I saw a captain and a
sergeant first class in Class A's,” Harris said. “I knew
what they were here for, but I assumed they had to be here
for someone else even though they buzzed my specific
apartment. I just knew they couldn't be here for me; I was
in instant denial.”
After grieving with family
members and friends, Harris said he experienced every
emotion possible during this troubling time.
“I felt
angry, I was hurt, at one point I even thought why did it
have to happen to me,” Harris explained. “I went through the
full gamut of emotions before realizing I needed to find a
way to carry on and do something in Blake's memory that
could also help parents who are experiencing this same
pain.”
In efforts to self-heal, Harris joined the
Denver chapter of the Patriot Guard Riders in March 2007,
where he has made a commitment to attend every military
funeral in the local area to show his support.
“I'm
still going through rough times myself, but talking to
families and providing support to others really seems to be
therapeutic not only to them, but to myself as well,” Harris
said. “I even created a patch that says ‘All gave some, my
son/daughter gave all' that I pass out to the parents at
funerals.”
Harris recently attended the 1st Cav. Div.
Association's 66th Annual Reunion, where he had the
opportunity to visit soldiers in Blake's old unit, as well
as interact with Cav leadership.
“It was a phenomenal
experience,” Harris said. “Everyone was very professional
and I had the opportunity to interact with several soldiers,
including the commanding general and sergeant major. It made
my day to know members and leadership of his old unit still
remember him and his fellow fallen warriors.”
By U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Calvert
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2013
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