Captain Cecil Elwood "Cece" Harris (December 2, 1916 – December 2, 1981) was an American schoolteacher, naval aviator and flying ace of World War II. Harris is remembered for actions in the Pacific Ocean Theater, which earned him nine combat medals including the Navy Cross, the highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor. He ended the war as the navy's second-highest-scoring ace after David McCampbell (34), credited with shooting down 24 Japanese planes. Harris scored 16 of his aerial victories in four different days, downing four enemy aircraft on each of those days. Never during the course of his 88-day tour with VF-18 did a bullet hit his aircraft. It has been said that Harris "was arguably the most consistently exceptional fighter pilot in the US Navy".
Pre-war Cecil Elwood Harris was born in Faulkton, South Dakota, on December 2, 1916, to Howard and Jennie Harris. After graduating from Cresbard High School in 1934, Harris attended Northern State Teachers College, in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He took a leave from college after a year to teach in Onaka, South Dakota, where he met his future wife Eva. Harris returned to NSTC in 1940 to complete his undergraduate degree. Upon returning to school he enrolled in a civilian pilot training course, which ultimately led to his enlistment in the United States Naval Reserve on March 26, 1941. By March 12, 1942, he finished training at NAS Corpus Christi and was designated a naval aviator.
World War II Snapshot Cecil Harris first served aboard the escort carrier , reporting for duty on May 30, 1942. He was a pilot in VGF-27, which provided support for Operation Torch in North Africa and later flew sorties in the Solomon Islands Campaign. During this latter period Harris, flying a Grumman F4F Wildcat as part of a detachment posted on Guadalcanal, scored his first aerial victory. After his stint with Suwannee ended he was transferred to VF-36, which was eventually re-designated as VF-18. "Fighting 18" boarded on August 16, 1944, as part of its Air Group 18.
Though he was only a lieutenant at the time, many of VF-18's green pilots turned to Harris for advice. The squadron's commanding officer similarly recognized Harris's ability and made him flight operations officer. According to later testimony from his peers, the tactical and flight training Harris provided to his outfit helped see them through the war. His prowess on the wing would save a number of them in more direct fashion, both in dog fights and carrier landings. On October 29, Intrepid entered a squall with a Combat Air Patrol inbound. Though many from VB-18 and VT-18 were forced to water land, Harris used his dead reckoning and other navigation skills to find the carrier in the storm. He landed successfully and radioed information to men in the air, saving them from the risks of water landing and preserving valuable aircraft.
After eleven weeks of flying combat missions from Intrepid with Air Group 18, Harris had scored 23 of the group's total 187 confirmed kills. Over half of his VF-18 kills derive from four separate engagements in which he downed at least four Japanese planes: September 13 over Negros Island, October 12 over Formosa, October 29 over Clark Field on Luzon and November 25 over Nielsen Field and en route to Intrepid. For each of these individual engagements Harris was awarded medals, culminating with the receipt of the Navy Cross for the actions of October 29. On October 24 he shot down two Japanese floatplanes. The kamikaze attacks of November 25, 1944, put Intrepid out of commission for a stretch and saw VF-18 detached from Air Group 18. VF-18 stayed for less than a week on before it detached yet again, this time for Pearl Harbor; Cecil Harris was headed home. He arrived stateside January 16, 1945.
VF-18 was reformed and returned to Air Group 18 on January 25, 1945. Many of the former VF-18 fighter pilots returned to the reformed squadron, including Harris, who served as Flight Officer. He was married at Seaside, Oregon, while serving with this outfit. Training commenced immediately at NAS Astoria in Oregon and continued at NAS North Island in San Diego, where the group was transferred on April 19. The squadron trained in night fighting, the use of rockets, and on the newly introduced Grumman F8F Bearcat. They would never see combat as a unit because of the Japanese surrender in August of that year.
Aerial victories DateTypeTotalApril 1, 19432 A6M Zeke2September 13, 19441 A6M Zeke, 3 A6M Zeke 324October 12, 19441 Ki-21 Sally, 1 Ki-48 Lily, 2 A6M Zeke4October 14, 19443 D4Y Judy3October 21, 19441 Ki-21 Sally (Assist)N/AOctober 24, 19442 F1M Pete2October 29, 19443 Ki-44 Tojo, 1 A6M Zeke4November 19, 19441 A6M Zeke1November 25, 19443 Ki-44 Tojo, 1 A6M3-32 Hamp4
VF-18 in detail
September The air group cut its teeth off the coast of Babelthuap, the largest island of Palau, on September 6, 1944. They encountered no aerial opposition during any of the day's strikes. Fighters escorted the bombers to their targets, strafing anti-aircraft positions and military installations along the western coast of the island. Meager anti-aircraft fire and fair visibility allowed the air group to drop in excess of of ordnance on its first day of bonafide combat.
Japanese resistance stiffened when Intrepid moved on to the Philippines. Fighters reported moderate to intense anti-aircraft fire of all calibers during strikes on Mindanao September 9, but enemy pilots remained scarce. Air Group Commander (CAG) William Ellis personally witnessed his torpedo squadron score two direct hits on the runway at Matina field with bombs. Likewise, strikes later in the day cratered Daliao airfield, knocking it out of operation. This was the first day Harris was mentioned in the VF-18 action reports. During the dawn fighter sweep, he led a division to Davao Gulf that sunk two small craft and left a third, larger one ablaze. After incendiary strikes on the 10th, the carrier spent a day refueling before heading north to the Visayas.
Harris became an ace on September 13 when he and Lt. James Neighbours led divisions in a dawn strike on Negros Island. Both divisions flew above the bombers, Neighbors' planes positioned in front to provide close support while Harris's division covered the rear. By the time the strike force crossed over the coast of Negros, 's Air Group 8 was already engaging Japanese interceptors. Enemy aircraft came after Intrepids bombers just a moment later.
A lone "Zero" emerged from the cloud cover below Air Group 18, attempting to sneak up on the formation from behind. Harris spotted the enemy early on and led his division down in pursuit, chasing the Japanese fighter away from the air group and back into the cloud cover from which it had appeared. Harris and company followed him down through the clouds into the open skies above Fabrica airfield, where a "hornets nest" of enemy planes was waiting for them. A melee ensued, causing one Zero to break ranks in the face of an attack by Burley. Burley hit his target but did not have time to verify the kill—another Zero came in from behind, forcing him to take evasive action. Fortunately, Harris was behind this second Japanese fighter and shot him down just a moment later. Flying back toward the bombers, Harris spotted a single Zero Type 32 "Hamp" climbing in front of him, headed in the same direction and apparently intent on attacking the bomber squadrons. Harris pulled up above the enemy and turned inside of him, putting a burst into the plane from 7 o'clock. It went down in flames. Harris then observed the pilots from his division fighting hard over the air strip, so he doubled back to render assistance. As he headed down, he was jumped from 7 o'clock, by two Hamps. He pulled up hard and swung left, allowing his pursuers to overshoot their runs before he tacked back to the right, putting himself above and behind them. Harris dove on his former pursuers with his guns firing, causing one plane to explode and the other to flee the scene. Once more seeking out his division, Harris approached a cluster of planes that turned out to be still more Zero 32s. Harris's Hellcat had no problem outpacing them. After he'd put enough distance between himself and the group, he looped back and approached the enemy formation head on in a low side run. His target, the last Zero in formation, exploded a mere from Harris, who finally spotted some fellow Hellcats. He broke off his engagement to follow the other VF-18 pilots to the rendezvous point.
September 13 represented the first day that Air Group 18 encountered significant resistance in the Pacific skies. From Harris's Strike 2 Able through to the fourth and final strike of the day, Strike 2 Dog, 41 Japanese planes were shot down by Admiral Gerald F. Bogan's Task Group 38.2 and a similar number were destroyed on the ground by bombing and strafing runs.
On September 14 Harris was credited with damaging a Sally on the ground during strafing attacks on Alicante airstrip. The next day the task group retired to rendezvous with oilers and escort carriers, which refueled the ships and provided replacement aircraft on the 16th. Heading off the coast of the Palaus, the air group provided air support throughout the day for Marine landings during the Battle of Peleliu on September 17. The fighter squadron loaded their belly tanks with napalm to drop on targets at Peleliu and Angaur in addition to the conventional bombs dropped by the VB and VT squadrons. September 18–20 were spent refueling and moving towards the next target: Luzon.
Air Group 18 and the other air groups in ComCarDiv 4 flew the first carrier strikes on Luzon since its capture by Japanese forces, making strikes on shipping in the proximity of Subic Bay and bombing installations at Clark Field between September 21 and 22. The first of these was a banner day for VF-18's fighter pilots. Lt(jg) Charles M. Mallory made ace in a day with five aircraft to his name; Lt. Harvey P. Picken destroyed four-and-one-half aircraft.Picken was credited a shared victory against a Betty, splitting the kill with G.J. Eckel and therefore earning a fractional score. One of the last actions taken before the task group retired to Ulithi for the remainder of September was a long-range, fighter-bomber strike on shipping in Coron Bay. Achieving total surprise on the morning of September 24, Air Group 18 alone reportedly accounted for around sunk.
October Half of Harris's credited kills were achieved in October, coinciding with Japanese planners' final attempt at provoking a decisive battle with the American fleet. On October 1, 1944, while still anchored at Ulithi, Intrepid was made Admiral Bogan's flagship. The carrier disembarked from harbor on October 7 to head for the waters southeast of Okinawa. It was scheduled to be part of strikes on Okinawa, the Ryukyus and Luzon leading up to a planned invasion of Leyte. These strikes began on October 10, targeting Okinawan airfields including Naha, Yontan and Ie Shima, as well as nearby shipping. Anti-aircraft fire ranged from meager to intense with flak worsening throughout the day. But, regardless of strike time, or target, there was virtually no aerial opposition encountered.