James Andrew "Buddy" Harris
1926-2008
James Andrew "Buddy" Harris was born February 27, 1926 in Oklahoma to
James & Mary Emma "Madge" Allen Harris. November 28, he
married Margaret Ann Lawrence in Sebastian County, Arkansas. They divorced
February 13, 1950. His second wife was Jeanene M. Cline Hugo. They
married April 19, 1951.
January 9, 1946 Buddy registered for the miitary draft although he had already
served. One of his Navy muster records below gives his enlistment date as July 9, 1943
at Little Rock, Arkansas. His discharge date from the US Navy was June 1, 1964.
Some of the story of the ship he served on part of the time he was in the Navy
is at the bottom of the page.
James Andrew "Buddy" Harris passed away December 22, 2008 at Fort Smith,
Sebastian Co., Ar. His burial was in the National Cemetery there.
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James A. "Buddy" Harris, 82, of Fort Smith died Monday, Dec. 22, 2008, in Fort
Smith. He was retired from Gerber and a Navy veteran of World War II, the Korea
War and the Vietnam War and the widower of Jeanene Harris.
Funeral will be 10 a.m. Monday at Fentress Mortuary Chapel in Fort Smith with
burial with military honors at U.S. National Cemetery in Fort Smith.
He is survived by two daughters, Patricia Kirk of San Antonio and Carrie Harris
of Rogers; two sons, James Harris Jr. of Fort Smith and George Harris of
Greenwood; a sister, Catherine Schelley of Spokane, Wash.; eight grandchildren
and three great-grandchildren.
Pallbearers will be his grandchildren, Drew, Sarah and Abby Harris, George
Harris Jr., Clara and Slater Kirk, Amy Friddel and Michael Hugo.
January 16, 1942
Southwest American
Fort Smith, Arkansas
PCS 1404 later USS Armistead Rust
PCS-1404 launched on 12 November 1943. After completing outfitting and
shadedown training, the submarine chaser departed San Diego on 4 May 1944.
Steaming by way of Pearl Harbor and the Marshall Islands, she arrived at Saipan
in the Mariana Islands on 17 June. There, she supported the occupation of that
island and Guam by providing antisubmarine protection for ships bringing in
supplies to the troops ashore. Between 26 July and 15 August, the warship
made a round-trip voyage from the Marianas to Eniwetok for repairs. Upon her
return, PCS-1404 resumed her patrol duties among the islands of the Marianas.
She sailed for Oahu on 27 September and reached Pearl Harbor on 15 October.
The vessel then operated in the Hawaiian Islands until 24 January 1945.
On that day, PCS-1404 headed back to the Central Pacific. Sailing via the
Marshalls, she arrived at Guam on 13 February 1945 but stayed only three days.
On the 16th, she put to sea in the screen of a convoy bound for Iwo Jima. Arriving
there on the 20th, the warship patrolled the vicinity of the Volcano Islands
until the 26th when she shaped a course back to the Marianas. The ship arrived
at Saipan on 2 March only to put to sea the next day under tow of tank landing
ship LST-808 and rescue tug ATR-94, bound for the Philippines. The little convoy
reached Leyte on 9 March.
Ten days later, under her own power once again, PCS-1404 departed Leyte on her way
to Okinawa. On the following day, 20 March 1945, she was named Armistead Rust,
reclassified a surveying ship, and redesignated AGS-9. The ship spent the period
26 March to 30 June engaged in hydrographic surveying operations around Kerama
Retto. In July, she returned to the Philippines, and carried out surveys of those
waters for the next 11 months.
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