
Captain Charles Dashiell Harris
6th Engineers regiment, 3rd Infantery Division
At 7 a.m, on October 20, 1918, after the failure of the previous Infantery assault, three companies of the 6th Engineers led by Captain Harris,
decided to launch their own attempt to gain the Clairs Chenes Woods. With a small detachment, Captain Harris captured two machine guns and three prisoners.
Seeing that the Germans were preparing a counter attack, he seized one of the machine guns, advanced toward an open space to get a clear of fire and fired
against the enemy when he was shot through the left lung. His men tried to carry him to an American aid station but lost their way in the forest and where
captured by the enemy. Captain Harris was carried to a German first aid station near Aincreville where he died. He was respectfully buried by the Germans,
about 600 yards southeast of the village.
On January 1919, his uncle, Lieutenant-Colonel Seale Harris, a doctor in Paris,went to Aincreville and moved the Captain's body to an area not subject to flooding.
After several round trips between Aincreville and Romagne, Captain Harris remains were ultimately repatriated to the U.S.A., on June 21, 1921.
On November 1921, General Peter Charles Harris wrote a letter to the Mayor of Clery-le-Grand that he was seeking to purchase a small section of land suitable
to eract a memorial for his son. The municipality accepted and gifted a 60 square meter plot of land to him, nearby the place where Captain Harris fell
(49°21'06.2"N 5°07'30.3"E).
In 1988, on the initiative of M. Norman B. IORIO, superintendent at the Romagne American Cemetery, and the municipality of Clery-le-Grand, Captain Harris' memorial
was moved to a more suitable place near the path between Cunel and Clery-le-Grand.
On October 23, 1993, Captain Harris was made an honorary citizen of Clery-le-Grand.
Captain Harris was posthumously awarded the American Distinguished Service Cross.
GPS Memorial: 49°20'57.9"N 5°07'52.3"E
GPS Aincreville Monument: 49°22'02.8"N 5°07'16.1"E
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