Harry Harris
Harry Harris is a Navy admiral currently serving as commander, U.S Pacific Command. He is known to be first Asian-American to reach four-star rank in the Navy and the first to head U.S. Pacific Command.
When talking about a fella in the Navy is usually to say how great they are at what they do, this time is no different.
U.S. Pacific Command Commander Adm. Harry Harris sparked a lengthy standing ovation during the 75th Anniversary Pearl Harbor Day Commemoration ceremony –by trolling San Francisco 49ers QB, Colin Kaepernick –saying
those who died on that fateful day “never took a knee and never failed to stand” during the national anthem.
Harris has logged 4,400 flight hours, including more than 400 combat hours, in maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft. He’s had a lauded career with a number of personal decorations.
But who exactly is, Admiral Harris? Why does he think he has the right to troll Kaepernick? Keep reading his biography below.
Harris was born, Harry Binkley Harris, Jr. on August 4, 1956, in Japan. He was brought up in Tennessee and Florida. How did that happened you ask?
Accoridng to the Time, his mother was born to a wealthy family in Kobe, Japan but lost her home, her school, members of her family and friends to bombing raids. After surviving that, she went to live with an aunt in Yokohama who helped her get a job on the big American naval base in Yokosuka –where she met Harry’s father. His parents met sometime in the early 1950s, got married and after Harry was born they moved to Tennessee.
His dad –who served in World War II –was posted in Japan and Korea from 1946 until he retired in 1958.
Following Harry’s graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1978 and designation as a naval flight officer, he was assigned to Patrol Squadron (VP) 44. His subsequent operational tours include tactical action officer aboard USS Saratoga (CV 60); director of operations for U.S. 5th Fleet at Manama, Bahrain; and director of operations for U.S. Southern Command.
Harris has served in every geographic combatant command region, and participated in the following major operations: S.S. Achille Lauro terrorist hijacking incident, Attain Document III (Libya, 1986), Earnest Will (Kuwaiti reflagged tanker ops, 1987-88), Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Willing Spirit (Colombia hostage rescue, 2006-7) and Odyssey Dawn (Libya, 2011). For Odyssey Dawn, he served as the Joint Force Maritime Component Commander afloat.
Harris’ graduate education focused on East Asia security. He attended Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, and Oxford University. He was a MIT Seminar 21 fellow.
According to online info in October 2011, he was assigned as the assistant to the CJCS where he served as the Chairman’s direct representative to the secretary of state and as the U.S. roadmap monitor for the Mid-East Peace Process. Harris was promoted to Admiral and assumed command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in October 2013. He was designated as the Theater Joint Force Maritime Component commander. In May 2015, he assumed command of the U.S. Pacific Command.
He is a recipient of the Navy League’s Stephen Decatur, the CIA’s Agency Seal Medal, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and APAICS Lifetime Achievement awards. He is the Navy’s current “Gray Owl” – the NFO who has held this designation for the longest period.
What do you think about Adm. Harry Harris calling out on Kaepernick and those who have utilize their right to protest by kneeling against the National anthem?
