[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 82 (Thursday, June 5, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING JESSE M. HARRISON

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN B. LARSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 5, 2003

  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute 
to one of my constituents, Jesse M. Harrison of Rocky Hill, 
Connecticut. Mr. Harrison is a veteran of the Second World War, and I 
recently had the privilege of presenting him with the Distinguished 
Flying Cross, which he earned nearly 60 years ago during his service as 
an Air Force pilot, but never received.
  Mr. Harrison, now 82, served in the Air Force from March 20, 1943 to 
January 8, 1946. He piloted an aircraft on D-Day, June 6, 1944 at about 
1:00 am carrying 17 paratroopers from the allied base in England to 
their ``drop zone'' behind German lines in Ste. Mare Eglise, France, 
only miles from the Normandy beaches. Two of the three planes in Mr. 
Harrison's group went down in flames under heavy German fire, however 
First Lieutenant Harrison, then 24, dropped his aircraft down to tree 
top level and took complicated evasive actions to avoid German fire. 
After overshooting the drop zone because of the German fire, he 
returned to the drop zone and the paratroopers dropped and hit their 
mark. When he returned to base in England, his aircraft had 67 holes in 
it from German gunfire.
  On September 19, 1944, Mr. Harrison was again the pilot of a plane 
flying over the Netherlands towing a glider with 10 American soldiers 
and a jeep on board to their drop zone near German lines. His plane 
came under heavy enemy fire and his crew bailed out after the plane 
caught fire and began losing altitude. Were Harrison to bail out as 
well, the troops on the glider he was towing would likely have had to 
let go early, resulting in their death or capture. Mr. Harrison alone 
continued to guide the glider with his burning aircraft to their drop 
zone. After dropping the glider at their mark, Mr. Harrison had to walk 
through a wall of flame to reach his exit door--with the plane only 300 
feet from the ground and falling--to jump. He was assisted by two Dutch 
priests who found him. Mr. Harrison suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns 
from his waist to his face and spent 15 months recovering, receiving 
numerous skin grafts.
  It was a privilege for me to be able to present him with his well-
deserved medal on behalf of an eternally grateful Nation with all his 
family and friends present at Rocky Hill Town Hall on Wednesday, May 
28, 2003. Mr. Harrison is one of the thousands of real life heroes 
whose story must be told again and again so that each new generation of 
Americans will know that heroes do indeed walk among us, and that we 
must never forget the service and sacrifice our veterans gave for this 
Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me today in thanking and 
honoring Jesse Harrison for his service to the Nation.

                          ____________________