World War II United States Army Lieutenant General. He was declared dead by the US Army Air Forces Feb. 27, 1946, almost one year after the B-24 bomber ferrying him from Guam to Washington, DC disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. With Lieutenant Generals Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. and Leslie J. McNair, Harmon was one of the three highest-ranking general officers in the US military to die in World War II. Born into a military family at Fort Mason, near San Francisco, he graduated from the US Military Academy in 1912 and was first ordered to the Philippines. In 1916 he accompanied the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, where he performed aerial patrols along the border, and was in France in 1917 before the US entered World War I. Harmon was attached to the French 13th Group de Combat as a pilot during the Somme offensive, for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. His postwar military activities included serving on Advisory Board of the Air Service and the War Department General Staff, commanding the Air Corps Primary Flying School at March Field, California (1927 to 1930), and opening Barksdale Field, then the world's largest air facility, in 1933. Sent to Great Britain as observer in 1941, Harmon was successively appointed commander of Interceptor Command of the 4th Air Force, head of the 2nd Air Force, and head of Air Force Combat Command. In 1942 he became Chief of the Air Staff, Army Air Forces, and a few months later was named head of US Army Forces in the South Pacific, where he worked with Admiral Bill Halsey in Pacific battles leading to Japan. He was promoted to Lieutenant General on February 2, 1943, and in September 1944 named to command Army Air Forces/Pacific Ocean areas and deputy commander of the 20th Air Force, under which B-29s began their bombardment of Japan from the Marianas. In early March 1945, on a routine flight to Hawaii over the Marshall Islands, the B-24 bomber in which he and his chief of staff, Brigadier General James R. "Jimmie" Andersen, were traveling was lost. Despite the most intensive search by Army and Navy planes and surface vessels, no trace was ever found. There are several memorials to him but he has no grave other than the Pacific Ocean.
World War II United States Army Lieutenant General. He was declared dead by the US Army Air Forces Feb. 27, 1946, almost one year after the B-24 bomber ferrying him from Guam to Washington, DC disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. With Lieutenant Generals Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. and Leslie J. McNair, Harmon was one of the three highest-ranking general officers in the US military to die in World War II. Born into a military family at Fort Mason, near San Francisco, he graduated from the US Military Academy in 1912 and was first ordered to the Philippines. In 1916 he accompanied the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, where he performed aerial patrols along the border, and was in France in 1917 before the US entered World War I. Harmon was attached to the French 13th Group de Combat as a pilot during the Somme offensive, for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. His postwar military activities included serving on Advisory Board of the Air Service and the War Department General Staff, commanding the Air Corps Primary Flying School at March Field, California (1927 to 1930), and opening Barksdale Field, then the world's largest air facility, in 1933. Sent to Great Britain as observer in 1941, Harmon was successively appointed commander of Interceptor Command of the 4th Air Force, head of the 2nd Air Force, and head of Air Force Combat Command. In 1942 he became Chief of the Air Staff, Army Air Forces, and a few months later was named head of US Army Forces in the South Pacific, where he worked with Admiral Bill Halsey in Pacific battles leading to Japan. He was promoted to Lieutenant General on February 2, 1943, and in September 1944 named to command Army Air Forces/Pacific Ocean areas and deputy commander of the 20th Air Force, under which B-29s began their bombardment of Japan from the Marianas. In early March 1945, on a routine flight to Hawaii over the Marshall Islands, the B-24 bomber in which he and his chief of staff, Brigadier General James R. "Jimmie" Andersen, were traveling was lost. Despite the most intensive search by Army and Navy planes and surface vessels, no trace was ever found. There are several memorials to him but he has no grave other than the Pacific Ocean.
Bio by: John Andrew Prime
Gravesite Details
Body lost at sea. His B-24 disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in early March 1945.
Family Members
Advertisement
See more Harmon memorials in:
Advertisement
