Lt Finis E. Harris, Jr., was the son of a judge in Cookeville, Tennessee, USA. The oldest of three sons, he joined the Army Air Corp. His two other brothers enlisted, as well. Returning from a mission on Kassel on 15/Dec/44 and the B-17 having been heavily damaged by flak and the number one engine out, they were flying in zero-zero weather with their location uncertain.

Harris reportedly was concerned about being able to land successfully and told the crew to bail out if inclined. Only one did. While trying to land using radio beacons, one wing hit the stay of the Air Ministry Gee Mast at Borough Hill, Daventry. The nine remaining crew members were killed in the crash.

Harris is buried in Cambridge American Cemetery along with four other members of the crew. A plaque to commemorate this crew was erected in Daventry at the town's War Memorial in August 2015, within sight of Borough Hill.

His brother, Cpl. Perry Rowe Harris, 498th Bomber Squadron, 345th Bomber Group, (B-25), was killed in action on Leyte, in the Philippines just weeks before Finis (12/Nov/44) and is buried in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial. The surviving brother, Mark, was in training in the Army Air Corp in Nashville, Tennessee, USA at the time of his brothers' deaths and did not see action.

Service

Events

Event	Location	Date
Born	Cookeville, TN, USA
Died		15 December 1944