Gregory J. Harris, USMC POW Vietnam

Gregory J. Harris Military Courtesy Room

2008-07-14T16:01:00.004-04:00

Hello again, Folks! Time for another update on Greg. First, they are presently doing some interviews with some pertinent witnesses over in Vietnam. We hope to have some results from theses interviews in the next month or so. We were happy that we were able to work around our case analyst's refusal to look into these questions pending in Greg's case. It seems that fate always steps in when we need it! I big Thank You to the Man Upstairs!

Once we have word from Vietnam, we will be sure to post it.

The next piece of news, involves a wonderful project that is taking place right here is Syracuse at Hancock International Airport. About a month ago the community was made aware of efforts by several local veterans to establish a military courtesy room at our local airport. A few members of the Harris Family volunteered to help out and donate some items to the room. Our ongoing assistance was so appreciated that they asked us to join the staff and later our permission to name the room in Greg's honor.

We were just taken aback that these vets would consider remembering Greg is such a wonderful fashion.

For more on the Courtesy Room, please go to http://syracuseairportmiltarycourtesyroom.wordpress.com/.

If you would like to donate, here is where you can send a donation.

Loren Davies, Commandant

Emerald City Detachment, Marine Corps League

Military Courtesy Room Project

PO Box 393Chittenango, New York 13037-0393

We ask that, if at all possible, you include “Airport Project” in the memo section of your check and make the check out to “Emerald City Detachment, Marine Corps League”.

The Courtesy Room will have its official ribbon cutting on July 29, 2008 which will include Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll and the Aviation Commishioner Anthony Mancuso who were instrumental in the coodiinating between the Airport and the City, who owns the airport. Other military dignitaries will be in attendance as well from the various military installations in the area, including a large contingency from Ft. Drum, home of the Army's 10th Mountain Division.

Once we have photos from the opening I will post them here.

As always, Thank you for your continuing support of our search for answer in Greg's POW case.

Greg's Dog Tag - Finally Home

2007-12-16T20:50:00.001-05:00

Hello Everyone! We are loooong over due for an update on this site and if the information about the Tourison Memos wasn’t enough to get you hot under the collar, this post will make you want to write your Congressman. But let me preface this post with a very important fact; nothing here has deterred us, not one iota!

Here is a revised version of an e-mail that we sent out to family and close friends earlier this year with some additional information …

(June, 2007) This weekend Aunt Chris and I went to Washington, DC for the Annual POW/MIA Family Meetings. This is always an emotional time for us; this year in particular as there has been a lot of new information that has been so convincing that we have petitioned the Navy to have Greg's status changed from MIA to POW. It was obvious by what you will soon read that there are many in Washington who do not want to see this happen as it will open a flood gate for many other families to try the same thing. To put it lightly, we were met with much resistance.
I don't think I have ever experienced such an emotional swing of the pendulum as I did between Thursday and Friday of that week.

On Thursday we had a meeting with our Congressman to ask for his help and a little bit of influence to get the people at the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) to give us, at the very least, a fair shake. I have to say that at first I was unsure of the level of commitment we could expect from the Congressman but about 20 minutes into our conversation, he reminded us that he had gone to Vietnam a few times and brought up Greg's case to them and also tried to get Greg's dog tag out of the Military Museum in DaNang for us.

Then suddenly, he moved a piece of paper from the top of his desk and extended to us a silver plated circular jewelry box, with the seal of the House of Representatives engraved on it. As I held the container in my hand, I looked up at him and whispered, "Is this what I think it is?" He smiled and said, "Open it". There in that 5 inch diameter box was indeed what I had thought, the dog tag bearing the name, GJ HARRIS. I took in a breath and handed the box to my aunt as we both sat there, tears pouring down our faces and I don't think there was anyone else in the room that did not have a tear in their eye. He had done what we had always been told was the impossible. Through her tears Aunt Chris told him that this was the first concrete thing that anyone had done for us in over 40 years. It was the closest I had ever physically been to Greg. It was a unique and rare emotion to hold it in my hand, only wishing it would talk and tell the true story of how it came to the museum. I was just thinking that some of you reading this had most likely looked at that tag hundreds of times while it hung around Greg’s neck, never knowing that it would ever have the significance it has today.

So, we obviously thanked the Congressman profusely and felt a small victory as we returned to our hotel all the more motivated to get the answers that have eluded two generations of McDonalds. We then made some calls to share the news of the Congressman's gift with the rest of the family. That evening there was also a panel discussion as part of the Family Meetings and we had the opportunity to share the story with those assembled and there was not a dry eye in the place.

*******

Friday, we hoped would be another day like Thursday, instead, it was sheer hell. We had an appointment with Greg's case analyst, someone we had never met and now wish we never had. Over the past few years we had found so many holes in the now infamous sandbar story that we felt we had enough evidence to get them to look elsewhere for Greg. With every discrepancy, error and impossibility presented to her she simply reasoned it away. She tried to discredit another analyst (Ref: Tourison Memos below) with much more experience than she will ever have by stating that he was a horrible writer and she, in the past, had to correct many of his errors. This man mind you, has published two books, both of an investigative nature, something that I could kick myself for not having remembered at the time to use a retort.

Another document came to light about 4 months ago (March of 2007) which stated that a VC provincial chief of staff of a smaller unit that Greg was fighting at the time of his capture had admitted in his personal memoirs of the war, published in 1997, that during this battle his unit had captured an American. The analyst was unaware of the fact that we had obtained the document elsewhere and tried to pass its contents off to us as "hearsay" in Greg's case summary file. I questioned her for a few minutes about the document, which she insisted was irrelevant, then suddenly pulled it out from my folder and asked her why she referred to its contents as second hand information, both in the case summary and there at the meeting, when the document itself stated it was a "firsthand account of the capture" of Greg Harris. She then went on to say, "Well, it says firsthand but doesn't really mean first hand." .... Yeah, right! .... This is just one small example of the circus like atmosphere of this meeting.

Not to mention the fact that, due to the presence of a representative from our Congressman's office we assume, there were various men in suits, including a USMC Major, who were there listening to the proceedings. They included, The Head of Marine Corps Casualty Office, along with the DPMO’s Senior Casualty Liaison Officer, DPMO’s Head of the Military Personnel Services Branch and DPMO’s Legislative Aide. Also in attendance on our side, so to speak, was a representative from the Honorable John M. McHugh’s office as well as Aunt Chris, my cousin Bob and myself. Thankfully we were so focused on the task at hand that we didn't even have time to be intimidated although I am sure that was the intent. It is important to note that none of these unexpected guests introduced themselves to any of us or said a word during the entire proceedings.

We asked about an error in coordinates of the burial site between the 1990 and 1993 investigations and she said, “Oh, Coordinates don’t matter!” We asked her about how Greg’s body could have stayed in the middle of the river for some 10 to 12 hours and not be taken away by the current; she said it could have been a branch. I argued that a branch is not a common occurrence in the middle of a river that is close to a kilometer wide, she stood by her statement. We asked her how a body could have stayed on a raft (the locals claimed that some boys built a raft, put Greg’s body on it and sent it downriver) having gone over at least THREE diversion dams. She didn’t really have an answer for that.

The final blow to the meeting, after presenting just about all of the strong evidence we had, was when we outright asked the analyst, "What is it going to take to get us off the sandbar?", without a second of hesitation she looked at me and simply nodded and said, "You're not". A few minutes later, we were told that another family was waiting to see the analyst so we had to end soon. As the meeting was coming to a close and we were putting away our papers, she had the utter and complete audacity to say to me, "Mary Ann, Do you know what I would love to see? ... I would love to see you use these amazing investigative skills that you have to help another family who could really use it." Thankfully, at that moment, I had my retort ready, "My family comes first", I said.

We spoke briefly with the representative from the Congressman's office who, I felt, was processing what she had just witnessed and was still trying to make sense of it all. She said that she was going to speak with the Legislative Aide and request that they do a few specific things. So, I went back into the room to get the legislative liaison for her and found, not another meeting with another family, but three of the "suits", the Major and the analyst huddled in a small circle speaking in low voices, so much for meeting with another family.

They may think they have us against the ropes but that is far from the truth now. Their performance has done the complete opposite of its intent, now, more than ever I am convinced that their sandbar story is nothing but a cover for something that they just don't want known. There are answers out there somewhere and we will find them. We took a day to lick our wounds so to speak and now have a nice long list of things to do, check on and search for. They thought they had a fight on their hands before ... that was a walk in the park!
Since the Meetings in June, even more information has come to us and we are more convinced than ever the sandbar was not Greg’s final resting place.

Thank you to you all for being our partners in this odyssey, the future holds some great possibilities for Greg.

Wishing you all the warmest of Christmases, from your extended family tucked away in the rolling hills of Upstate New York.

UPDATE: "Vietnam has now acknowledged that Cpl. Harris was captured alive."

2006-12-26T11:02:00.001-05:00

Yes, you read it correctly ~ Greg was captured and held into captivity. No more infamous sandbar, no more waterwheel, no more witnesses of a fictitious burial whose testimonies are riddled with inconsistencies ...... and most importantly, no more excuses!

“…this information has come from Vietnamese officials who are acknowledging for the first time that some Americans not previously confirmed captured alive did in fact survive into captivity but later died.”

April –May Investigation:

Unfortunately, due to budget cuts within DPMO, the April-May investigation that we were promised was postponed. We were a bit disappointed but we were told in July that the investigation was going to be tabled until the October Joint Field Activity. So, once again we wait to see what results, if any, the investigative teams can obtain.

19 New POW cases :

Thanks to Lynn O’Shea’s never-ending pursuit for answers, it was brought to our attention that documents from the 1992 Senate Select Committee that referenced Greg were never brought to our attention. In a series of memos now referred to as “The Tourison Memos”, this SSC investigator, with 20 + years of experience in the POW/MIA issue, reviewed reports and other documents that stated emphatically that Greg, along with some 18 other US Servicemen were indeed captured by the Communists and held into captivity.

For a summary of this revelation and how it fits into the POW/MIA landscape, please click this link to the National Alliance of Families website where Lynn has written a series of pieces that render these new documents as extremely significant for the individual family members and the issue as a whole.

http://www.nationalalliance.org/vietnam/19cases.htm

Aside from the details of the 19 new POW cases, we continue to follow other leads, research other databases from the Vietnam Era and make requests from various agencies for possible documents that correlate to Greg’s case. Once we have more definitive information, it will be posted here.

It is necessary to add here that DPMO is continuing to deny the veracity of these Tourison Memos stating that these are just one investigator’s interpretation of documents that were in the files turned over to the SSC from various agencies within DoD. Another family of the remaining 18 was told that other unnamed analysts had reviewed the same reports but came to a different conclusion. A few other families of these 19 men were given responses of this nature.

Our question to them is rather simple:

“Vietnam has now acknowledged that Cpl. Harris was captured alive.”

How should we “interpret” that?

More to come ….. you can count on it!

40 Years - Where is he?

2006-06-12T15:36:00.000-04:00

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Greg's capture and we still have more questions than we do answers. Many have asked us if we have anything special planned for today and we decided that this is an occasion that need not be "celebrated". This is one of our most dreaded days on the calendar. 40 years is far too long to have waited for answers that truly should have been answered decades ago. People often talk about national tragedies, this is the most staggering tragedy in the history of our nation - men who were left behind, never accounted for and for all extensive purposes, wished away.
3 weeks ago, Greg's uncle, Robert McDonald passed away of lung cancer. We tried so hard to get Greg home before he left us but we failed. At the very least we know that we have another angel in Heaven that will help rally the forces there. He cried manly tears for a nephew he loved like a son and even days before his passing he was still thinking about that nephew that our nation seemed to have forgotten.
Somber seems to be the best way to describe today - yet hopeful that we are still on the right path and that now, having one more angel in Heaven on our side may well tip the scale in our favor. We can only hope, and pray, for just that.
Next week it is time for the Annual POW/MIA Family Meetings in Washington, DC. We go, again, with hopeful hearts ...... Love has been a long time coming ..... Home.

OH MY GOD! (To quote Uncle Mike!)

2006-02-15T22:13:00.001-05:00

(**Note: Although at the time we were very excited about the news in this letter, our hopes were dashed in that the definition of "investigation" was misleading to say the least. Additionally, Greg's case was never taken out of the NFP category eventhough, by definition, it should have been. )

We have been trying to keep this blog in some semblance of chronological order and most importantly, with the picture of Greg in his Dress Blues at the top but, after this past Monday -- I'm sure Greg will understand! LOL A letter arrived in the mail on Monday informing us that Greg's case has been take out of the "no further pursuit" category and that they will be executing a new investigation of the alleged burial site and a few other details of Greg's case during April-May of this year.

To quote a close friend in the POW/MIA Issue, "THIS IS HUGE!" I cannot put into words how hard we have worked this past year. Going through declassified documents, networking like crazy and suddenly, almost magically, everything fell into place and several of our contacts were all making a "sales pitch" for Greg within the same week. It wasn't planned this way, it just happened and I have to say, we are cautiously optimistic that all of these things came together as fate wanted.

Now, we are all very excited, getting a case out of the NFP category is a big deal but we are a long way from our goal. This is just the first tangible step that we have had in our favor and if I can say, we have been working this case almost daily for the last year. Monday, made every moment spent reading documents, writing e-mails, making phone calls and writing letters worth it.

So now dear friends - we ask that you take a deep breath with us all - be thankful for this opportunity and KEEP PRAYING! Our Hero is, hopefully, one step closer ....Home.

Who is Gregory J. Harris?

2005-06-27T19:04:00.001-04:00

Gregory John Harris was born October 1, 1945 and was the sun and the moon to his mom, Catherine (McDonald) Harris Helwig. She was an incredible example of the true love a mother has for her child. He was the eldest of the grandsons and was truly, a fortunate son. He was looked up to by his younger cousins and had a heart that would make anyone proud to say that Greg's was part of their life.

Greg, or "Butchie" as his family called him, was born and raised in Fulton, NY, just north of Syracuse. He was the apple of his grandfather's eye and would spend his weekends and summers on his grandfather's farm where he learned to hunt and fish and enjoy the outdoors. His cousins considered him their big brother and confidant all rolled up into one. They would all play hide and seek in the hay loft, have green apple wars in the orchard and at night after chores they would all go swimming in the pond and make a camp fire. He taught his cousins campfire songs and ironically, saved a neighbor from drowning in that very pond. Even then, before Vietnam, he was truly their Hero.

In 1963 Greg joined the United States Marine Corps and was trained as a Radio Technician. Normally, radio techs do not go to the front lines, but on 12 June, 1966, just a few short months before his tour was to end, Greg convinced another radioman to let him go on an operation in his place. On that mission, Greg was captured alive and unhurt by two enemy soldiers. A search party was sent out the next morning but no sign of Greg was found.

So, the family nervously waited until the summer of 1973 when those POWs from Operation Homecoming were released by the Vietnamese government. Unfortunately, Greg was not one of those 591 POWs. Greg's mom then did something pretty darn impressive. To tell the world about the men that didn't come home, she walked 450 miles in one month from Buffalo, NY to New York City. When asked why she did this, she simply responded, " If your child were lost in the forest you would not stop the search at the end of twenty-four hours. I can't look for my boy .. It's better than staying awake night after night."

Greg's mom died in 1974 after a battle with cancer, fighting to the very end for the safe return of her beloved son. Surely, he is very proud of his mom and all she did to bring him home. Now, the family of Catherine and Greg have picked up the battle flag that Catherine left after her death. Today, some 39 years later, they are still fighting, still searching, still looking for answers. Until Greg is home, they will not give up. Would you?

About this Hero

2005-06-26T17:08:00.001-04:00

Over the past few years as I have researched and collected information, the man in this picture has come alive in my mind. Though I never met him, I have had the luxury to meet and talk to many that knew him and served with him in the USMC. From their stories, their smiles, tears and voices, I have a deeper understanding of the word "Hero".
This man, this Marine, this Hero was blessed with a family that was so full of love and happiness that is it no surprise that he was as wonderful as he was. Each has shared personal memories with me and in each and everyone of them, Greg's goodness is always evident. In particular, while serving in Vietnam, his fellow Marines have all said that Greg was "just a great guy", "everyone got along with him", "he always had a smile on his face", "you never heard a bad word said about Harris".
He was known as enthusiastic and energetic and even in 1963 as a Private in the Marine Corps, he was already preparing to make the Corps his career and after Vietnam, his next goal was MARCAD, the Marine Corps Aviation Division, to become a pilot. He had all of the recommendations in his Service File waiting for his return from his tour. It seems that on 12 June, 1966, fate had other plans for Greg. And from that faithful day some 39 years ago, his mom, his aunts, his uncles and now his cousins are searching for answers. But one thing we all know is that ...."All is safe, all is well for the Gates of Heaven are guarded by our United States Marine".

12 June, 1966 - Summary

2005-06-25T18:28:00.001-04:00

The story is a typical one as far as Greg and his character is concerned. On the day before another Radio Operator from the 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines was to go out with a Forward Observer on an operation with the 5th Vietnamese Marines and the 2nd ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam). Greg suggested that this RO's first time out should be with the US Marines and since the newly arrived RO had never been out with the ARVN, Greg offered to go in his place.
At approximately 3 PM on June 12th Greg, his FO and the members of the 5th Vietnamese Marines were ambushed by the 83rd (or possibly 38th) Battalion of the Viet Cong. Greg possibly radioed in and said that they were being overrun and that he was destroying the radio. Just after the FO officer told the radio crew back at the 3/11 base at Chu Lai that they were being overrun and running out of ammunition. The Senior Advisor, Captain Kennedy's last words were, "This is it guys, tell my wife I love her".
The morning after the ambush and ensuing battle, the area was searched, but there was no sign of Greg. Two other Americans, Capt. Tom Kennedy and Lt. Ted Armstrong, were killed in the fighting and thier bodies were recovered. According to two Vietnamese Marines, they saw Greg being drug into heavy foliage by two VC from the 83rd battalion.
From here, things are simply unclear. Officially speaking the VC claim that they did not capture anyone in the battle of Hanh Thinh. Yet agents reported some 5 days later that Greg was being held to be taken to Cambodia for an "exhibition" of sorts for propaganda purposes. When US DPMO (Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office) investigators were finally allowed to returned to the area in 1990 there were again several stories told. One local/former VC claimed to have captured an American during the battle but was forced to kill him because there was no way to lead him out of the area as the battle became more intense. Yet the description given was that of a small, blonde American who claimed to be a doctor. Obviously not Greg. After further investigation, there were no other Amiercans killed on this operation so it is posssible that this witness, like the many other, is recalling a different event and time.
The story that the Government seems to believe is that some hours later in the darkness, an American, whom they believe was Greg (simply due to location), was found some distance from the battle site hiding inside a waterwheel on the bank of the Song Ve River. Approximately three different individuals claim to have shot the American either in the water wheel or in the water near by as he attempted to escape. The body remained there in the waters for hours, over night or in the case of another witness, a few days and again three new people claimed to have either pushed the body or made a raft of some type and pushed the body down stream where they knew an ARVN outpost was and the body would be taken care of and returned to the Americans. Yet, the body washed up on a sandbar near the local dam and again, two to three people claim to have buried the body on the sandbar. Interestingly enough, investigators at the time of the incident claim that Greg knew the area well and if he did escape his captors, he could have easily found a safe area or outpost and eventually made his way back to friend territory or the base camp at Chu Lai.

So, after the 1990 investigation there was a recommendation to excavate the possible burial site but the plan was never approved and we have yet to be given a reason why. They returned in 1993 to reinterview their primary witness. Unbelievably, they sought out the wrong witness, a Mr. Toi. They learned that Mr. Toi was dead, thus making an identification of the burial site impossible. They classified the burial site as "lost" stating that any other testimony from the locals would be considered hearsay. It is often wondered where things would be if they had sought out the correct witness, a Mr. Ly.

In 1994, after the poor investigative work on the part of the 1993 investigative team, the US Government put Greg's case investigation in a "no further pursuit category" since there was no new evidence to go on at the time. Recently, efforts on the part of Greg's family have come across some possible new evidence and are attempting to convince the recovery team to attempt an excavation at the burial site on the Song Ve River. If an American is buried there, be it Greg or another missing hero. This is the argument that they hope to use to encourage the recovery teams to excavate the sandbar on their next recovery mission to Vietnam in 2006.
*************************
There are several questions that still linger about Greg's fate:

If it truly was Greg, how did he get so far from the battle site so quickly and presumably alone?

Who was the American that was killed in the heat of battle since no other Amiercan is unaccounted for from this battle?

How could the body have lingered in the area of the waterwheel over night, hardly moving and suddenly, the next morning after being put on a raft, then be able to float some 2 kilometers upstream?

Why were the reports from TWO separate agents regarding a propaganda campaign in Cambodia never followed up on?

Why was the initial decision to excavate the sandbar in 1990 not acted upon?

How did an item receipt for Greg's dog tag find their way to the National Military Museum in Hanoi? How did ONE of those dogtags find it's way to the Military Region 5 Museum in Da Nang? Where is the other tag?

In 1993, via Presidential Executive Orders, the CIA was ordered to release ALL classified documents pertaining to the POW/MIA issues from the Vietnam War. Claiming national security issues, the CIA has yet to release these documents. Are there classified CIA documents that have information on Greg? When will the CIA be forced to release these documents? It's been over a decade, does anyone care? The CIA claims that they need to protect national security which is fine but ...from the Vietnam War?

We could go on and on with questions .......

POW/MIA Recognition Day

2005-06-02T12:31:00.000-04:00

The Freedom Tree is located along the river, across from City Hall in downtown Fulton, NY. The Freedom Tree was planted in 1981 after Greg was officially declared dead/body not recovered by the US Government. The family decided that since they had no remains to bury, there was a need for a place to go to be with Greg and show their love, respect and appreciate for him. The City of Fulton graciously allowed the family to plant this tree and still today, those from the City's Grounds Department care for this memorial and treat it with the respect it so richly deserves. Over the years they have added the stone plaque you see below, a park bench for visitors to sit on and just recently a concrete walkway leading from the public sidewalk to the base of the tree lined with flowers. All of this was done out of the goodness of the City's administration and has humbled the family to know that the City hasn't forgotten their native son.

As Greg's cousin Christine has often said, when visiting The Freedom Tree, everyday is POW/MIA Recognition Day. So, please make an effort to attend a POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony in your area every Septemeber to remember Greg and those like him who have made the ultimate sacrifice and are still waiting to come home.