Helen Cooke, 90, holds a photo Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014, at her apartment in Summit View Senior Community in Chattanooga, Tenn., of her late husband, Army Pvt. First Class Cecil E. Harris, who went missing in action while serving in eastern France during World War II.World War II veteran U.S. Army Pvt. First Class Cecil E. Harris will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery today at 1 p.m., bringing full circle his journey through time and halfway around the world.
Harris’ remains were found at the end of the summer of 2013 by French hiker Vito DeLuca who was trooping through the woods near the town of Dambach in Eastern France near the German border.
DeLuca had stopped to rest at the foot of a large rock formation and spotted something white at his feet. What he found there answered an almost seven-decade long mystery, the remains of Shelbyville, Tenn., native Cecil Harris, a father, husband and Tennessee country boy who gave the ultimate sacrifice on Jan. 2, 1945.
He was 19 years old.
Harris was overseas with the “Thunderbirds” 45th Infantry Division in the winter of 1944 and 1945 when his platoon was overrun on top of the ridge where he was buried after he was killed in a German counterattack to try to take back Strasbourg and northern Alsace.