Fireman First Class Hiram Dennis Harris

Our Hometown Heroes

Fireman First Class Hiram Dennis Harris

One of First to Die in World War II

Hiram Harris has the dubious distinction of being one of the very first of over 300,000 Americans to die in WWII.

Born July 7, 1920 in Coweta County but raised in West Spalding County the child of Jams Render and Bessie Couch Harris, Hiram was the oldest of a brood of thirteen children.

The Great Depression was going full blast. Jobs were worse than scarce and cash money was non-existent for a family of fifteen. Without many other options, Hiram left school after attending Zetella Grammar School and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937 at age 17. That lead to him working for a time on public works projects in Oregon.

At age 20 and still looking for greener pastures, Hiram enlisted in the U.S. Navy on July, 23, 1940 and was assigned to the 30,000-ton battleship USS Arizona.

On December 7, 1941 the 21-year-old sailor, now a Fireman First Class, was on board the Arizona then docked in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii when the Japanese Imperial Fleet launched the sneak attack that catapulted America into WWII.

At approximately 8:00 AM the first wave of Japanese dive bombers swept across the harbor and attacked the helpless battleship and other American warships anchored there. Within minutes the Arizona suffered a direct hit that triggered a chain reaction explosion in the ships forward powder magazine that simultaneously gutted the ship and collapsed the forward superstructure, trapping hundreds of sailors that had survived the actual explosion.

Initially reported to his devastated family as “missing in action” it was months before Hiram was officially declared dead. But the three brothers who were then of eligible age – W.E., Houston and Melvin – are said to accepted harsh reality immediately and took Hiram’s death as a “personal affront”. They enlisted immediately to do their best to “get even”.

Over the decade that encompassed WWII eight of Hiram’s bothers likewise joined in to do their part. Of the nine Harris brothers that served in the military during that era ironically only Hiram lost his life and it was in the first hour of the first day of the fighting that lasted four years.

Seaman First Class Hiram Harris died with 1,116 other sailors on the Arizona. He is entombed there with 900 other Sailors and Marines in the remains of the battleship still resting on the bottom of Pearl Harbor.

American Legion Post 15 is named, in part, after the young Spalding County man who proved to be the first of 100 local victims of the fighting during World War II.

Although PFC Harris did not come home alive, a community now honors the World War II, soldier. Harris will be honored with an individual plaque to be installed in Historic Downtown Griffin. The plaque is sponsored by Southern Rivers Energy.