Fletcher Harris, Jr. was born in 1923 on Galveston Island, and is justly proud of the local area appellation, BOI, which stands for Born on the Island. He received reserve officer training at Castle Heights Military Academy and in August 1941 was commissioned Second Lieutenant, Infantry, in the Army Reserve. Following that, he was a student in the University of Tennessee, and remembers that he was in the Sigma Chi Fraternity House when he received his orders to active duty in April 1942. Fletcher served one year as an instructor at Camp Wolters, Texas. He was then assigned to the 69th Infantry Division in Mississippi where he received training in heavy weapons and...
