Carroll Harris was born in January 1922 in Rockport, Mississippi and went into the service at 20 years old. After graduating high school he got a job in Canton, Mississippi at a grocery store. Harris was one of the first 20 year old draftees from Copiah County [Annotator's Note: Copiah County, Mississippi]. He went from Camp Shelby [Annotator's Note: near Hattiesburg, Mississippi] to California where he guarded the Golden Gate Bridge. For several months, Harris worked in the plotting room in an outpost. When spotters saw a target in the water, he would zero the target [Annotator's Note: adjusting a gun so a target is in in its sights], transmit the coordinates to nearby artillery, then they gave the command to fire. While turning in his laundry, Harris was informed that he was being transferred. Harris was brought to Fort Ord [Annotator's Note: near Monterey, California], where 500 men were chosen to form a scout company of Army commandos. After five weeks of commando training, Harris and 323 other scouts boarded the USS Narwhal (SS-167) and USS Nautilus (SS-168). When they landed on Attu, the remaining 255 scouts went ashore. On the ships, they slept on small makeshift bunks. Harris went to Dutch Harbor [Annotator's Note: Dutch Harbor, Alaska] and did amphibious invasion training, then they made their way to Attu.

At three in the morning [Annotator's Note: of 11 May 1943], Carroll Harris disembarked from the submarine one mile from the shore. He went to shore in an eight man rubber boat using a compass reading. After reaching land, his squad [Annotator's Note: Harris served as a rifleman in the 7th Scout Company (Provisional), 7th Infantry Division] let the air out of the boat. Harris's objective was the high ground to the right of Holtz Bay. On the first morning, Harris and his platoon began climbing the mountain right of Holtz Bay. At the top of the mountain, he could look down into the Japanese position. During the climb, Harris's lieutenant fell down the mountain and was never heard from again. At the top of the mountain, there was a wall that offered protection except in one place. On the second day, his platoon secured a trail where the Japanese could get up the mountain. That day, Harris came across a hole in the position that allowed the Japanese to see him. Sergeant Allan walked across the hole and was shot by a Japanese machine gun. Harris was the next in line for command and ordered his men to drop to the ground and go around. He was able to make it to his position and secure it.

That night, Carroll Harris experienced a Japanese surprise attack. Guards were put in place where Sergeant Allan was killed. The Japanese had to make a straight line from their positions to the area now being guarded. That night, a Japanese scout capable of speaking English was sent up the trail to the guarded area. The scout was able to pronounce the password "Portland" and "Seattle" [Annotator's Note: during the war, sentries used passwords that would be difficult for enemy troops to pronounce]. Several men were lost. A machine gun was setup facing the path the Japanese scout used, clearing out the group of Japanese that were following him. Harris and his men took positions allowing them to see Holtz Bay. The following day, they raised the American flag above Attu Island. [Annotator's Note: Harris shows emotion.] Harris was able to see the 32nd Infantry [Annotator's Note: 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division]. On the second day, Harris prayed, asking to be able to go home. While he was asleep that night, he heard a voice tell him he was going home. For seven days, Harris had no food other than one K-ration. On the third day, a P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] dropped two packages of food. On the second run, the plane was shot down. A B-24 [Annotator's Notes: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] then dropped bombs on the Japanese position. On the second run, they dropped food and ammunition. Unfortunately, the packages meant for Harris's platoon missed and ended up in the Japanese camp in Holtz Bay.

Carroll Harris and the 1st Platoon [Annotator's Note: 1st Platoon, 7th Scout Company (Provisional), 7th Infantry Division] stayed on the island [Annotator's Note: Attu, Aleutian Islands, Alaska] for six days. The troops were frozen, and could only fire their weapons in a sitting or prone [Annotator's Note: laying down on the stomach] position. Harris saw medics were being killed while trying to remove the wounded from the area. Eventually the medics stopped coming. On the sixth day, the 32nd Infantry [Annotator’s Note: 32nd Infantry Reegiment, 7th Infantry Division] had cleared the area around the bay and made it to Harris' position and started taking down the wounded. The platoon could not walk down the cleared path, so Harris had to crawl down the mountain. It took a day to crawl down to the bay, where medics took them to a hospital ship. During his crawl down the mountain, Harris picked up Japanese cigarettes and a 25mm round. He gave away some other trinkets. At the end of the eighth day, out of the 255 men that came ashore, only 18 could join the 32nd Infantry. On the hospital ship, Harris took a bath, had some water, and ate a steak dinner. However, he threw up the dinner, and was given dairy products. It took about a month before he could eat a steak dinner.

The first treatment Carroll Harris received was heat lamps on his legs. However, his legs and feet began blistering, so he was then put in warm water. Due to the pain relievers he was on, Harris did not know what was happening, but could still feel pain. When he left the hospital ship and arrived at a hospital in the United States, Harris received a warm welcome. He was asked his name and unit by an officer. He was told that he was sent on a suicide mission. Harris said they were well taken care. The hospital tried several different treatments, including physical therapy, castes and sulfa drugs, but none seemed to work well. Amputations due to gangrene were common. After recuperating, he was transferred to Waco, Texas, where Harris was finally discharged. The doctor told him he would never walk again. After returning home, Harris received a uniform including big shoes he wore until 1946. He did not think those were happy days, but he is happy to have made it to age 87 and has a good family [Annotator's Note: Harris shows emotion] and was able to work a tractor until the previous year when he retired.

Carroll Harris was counting inventory in the grocery store he worked at when he heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Prior to boarding the submarine [Annotator's Note: Harris was transported from California to the Aleutian Islands aboard the USS Narwhal (SS-167)] near Fort Ord [Annotator's Note: near Monterey, California], he did not know where he was going. When he left the United States, Harris knew he was heading to combat and thought after they captured the Aleutians, his men would return to California and become a battalion of scouts [Annotator's Note: Harris fought on Attu with the 7th Scout Company (Provisional), 7th Infantry Division]. Harris was not given a cold weather uniform to wear. While traveling to Attu, he was on the USS Narwhal (SS-167). Due to waves, Harris landed on Attu wet and would not be dry again until he was evacuated off the island. Harris waded through deep snow and never saw the ground except when he was on the beach. When he landed on Attu, it was summer, but it was very cold. In his ten months and ten days in the Army, five were spent recovering from his injuries. On 22 September 1943, Harris was discharged from the Army. Training at Fort Ord consisted of running 25 miles, climbing a 90 foot mountain on a rope, repelling from the mountain with a full field pack, and sit-ups.

Besides the attack from the Japanese scout, Carroll Harris did not have any other combat experiences with the Japanese on the island [Annotator's Note: Attu, Aleutian Islands, Alaska]. He was on the island to keep the Japanese hemmed in at Holtz Bay, stopping them from evacuating, and giving the 32nd Infantry [Annotator’s Note: 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division] information on Japanese positions. When the 32nd Infantry arrived, Harris knew it was secured. Harris estimated 150 Japanese soldiers tried to evacuate from Holtz Bay. Someone commanded the Americans to lay low and hold their fire. After an hour, the 32nd Infantry arrived and there was a cease fire. When he first went ashore, Harris knew he needed to go around his mountain and up the side, but was not told about the hole in the position. On the sixth day, they planted the American Flag on the mountain. He had to crawl down the mountain because his legs were frozen and could not bend.

When he was discharged, Carroll Harris was told to go home [Annotator's Note: Rockport, Mississippi]. He was also told he would not walk again, and not talk about it or it would be worse, which he thought was truthful. In 1951, he bought his house. Of all of his wartime friends, only one is still alive. Harris thinks he heard about the end of the war on the radio or television. He thinks dropping the atomic bombs on Japan was a necessary thing to end the war. He went to the Aleutian Islands to preserve freedom, and sees the desecration of the American Flag as a disservice to his friends. He thinks that those who desecrate the flag should be sent over there or punished. He has not been to The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana], but thinks it is important that the Museum exists. He sees it as an educational experience for his family.