Missionory Hero of 1942
p. 45 · Read in the full issue
Father Harris
A SYDNEY columnist has paid a tribute to Father Harris, who met an untimely fate at the hands of the Japs, along the South Coast of New Britain, in 1942. The writer describes how Father Harris assisted the AIF and NGVR personnel to escape to the main land of New Guinea after Rabaul had fallen.
But he failed to relate how, after the Father had refused to accompany the soldiers, a number of them decided to overpower the missionary and take him forcibly on to a small boat. The Father, hearing of this plot, gathered the boys together and made his appeal to remain.
Being a lawyer before he took his vows, his pleading succeeded, and he was left to face the Japs.
Native reports state that the invaders captured him, knew of his assistance to the troops, took him aboard a destroyer, and there he was decapitated, and his body thrown overboard.
The name of Father Harris should go down in history as one who regarded
duty more than his own life.
G.T.