Texas rep. apologizes to WWII soldier's widow for "mishandling" info about fate of husband

(CBS News) A Texas congressman has apologized to a woman for "mishandling" information relating to the whereabouts of her husband, a fighter pilot who went missing after a 1944 mission in France.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, who was contacted by Peggy Harris back in 2005, said his office "did not do enough to come to a clear, final answer" about what happened to her husband Billie Harris after he was reported missing following a July 17, 1944 mission over Nazi-occupied northern France.

"I have sent her a personal apology for the mishandling of this sensitive matter and for any distress she has suffered as a result," Thornberry wrote on his Facebook page.

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Earlier this week, CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman told the story of Peggy Harris, a Vernon, Texas woman who never got definitive word of what happened to her husband Billie.

After getting conflicting reports about her husband's fate, Peggy contacted her congressman. Her last letter, in 2005, was directed to Thornberry, who also happens to be vice-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

In his reply, Thornberry said Billie was "still listed as 'missing in action' in the National Archives."

But a few years ago, Billie's cousin Alton Harvey decided to try and get to the bottom of it for Peggy. He started by requesting Billie's military records - and that's all it took. A simple check with the National Archives showed that Billie Harris was killed in action.

Below are Rep. Thornberry's comments:

I would like to share some comments on a recent news story regarding Mrs. Peggy Harris.

My office maintains a strict rule that all constituent communications and correspondence are kept completely confidential. We do not share the actual content of our files or comment on it under any circumstances out of respect for people's privacy and to protect personal information. There are no exceptions. We shared this policy with CBS verbally and sent them a written statement confirming the policy before the broadcast of last night's story. They chose not to include it.

I can only say that in 2005 my office contacted various organizations on Mrs. Harris' behalf, following standard casework procedures. Conflicting information was sent back to Mrs. Harris and we did not do enough to come to a clear, final answer. I have sent her a personal apology for the mishandling of this sensitive matter and for any distress she has suffered as a result.

[mark34602]

Wow! I am amazed at how many of you freaks in the comments try to turn it around on the family.

[indyforthepeople]

Looks like my spell checker does not work on this site, I guess it is to be expeced when typing on such a small keypad that mistakes are inevitable so sorry for the misspelling, I am sure you get the point

[indyforthepeople]

Therealskidz, you are defending this ggu soley on the basis of him being a republican period. Your argument is weak and ignores the obvious facts that he lied about contact the national archives, they keep a record of all requests and neither him nor his office have rewuested anything, this makes him a liar. You try to sound logical in your argument like most politicians try to do even when lying but anyone with have a brain can see right through you, it is pathetic. Do yourself a favor and step away from the political parties and look at each issue independantly and you will see clearer, as of now anything you say just sounds more like right wing drivel with a hint if subtle intellegence nothing more. It is too bad, I read every post and you seem to have average intellegence which is more then I can say for most blind-led party lap dogs, so to me it is a waste of a mind to allow yourself to see in only red and blue.

[stevec8796]

When I heard this story I thought that Rep. Thornberry is one super insensitive jerk; being from Texas, I guess that is to be expected

[mari1963]

I admire this lady for staying single and devoted to her husband for all these years. All widows should stay that way. Marriage shouldn't be disposable and this lady proved that. I admire her and wish all women would learn from her example. Once married - always married.

[jms133]

The bottom line is ,her husband died in 1944,nearly 70 years ago and she was never notified of his death or where or when.He just never came home.A WW2 widow was severely injured by her countries neglect.She gave her all to her country.I hope this at least gives her closure.She diserves more than an apology.

[FLAAGSHIP]

I totally agree, this Representative is has many things to learn about honesty. What else has he not fulfilled to the people of this country!
We have trusted in this man for way to many years.

[MrSkeptic]

This is a very sad story that I feel required some more research by CBS before they aired the story--there appears to me to be much more to the story than was reported in the article. The Congressman clearly dropped the ball on his reply, but I'm puzzled as to how neither she nor his family knew what happened to him.

There are several accounts of this story on the internet, the most complete of which seems to be on website of the 354th Pioneer Mustang Fighter Group. That story indicates that she received a telegram (I don't know from whom) indicating that her husband was MIA as of 7 July 44. She questioned the date because she had received a letter from him dated 8 July, and she apparently subsequently received another telegram indicating that the MIA date should have been 17 July 44.

There's a March 1946 Army report on the internet regarding the loss of the Lt. Harris' aircraft. The report contains a statement by his flight leader, who says his P-51D nicknamed "Mary Pat III" was shot down by an FW-190. The Army report also includes a translation of the German downed aircraft report which erroneously describes his aircraft as a P-47 Thunderbolt. The German report indicates that Lt. Harris had been killed, listed his personal effects, said that he was to be buried in Les Ventes on or about 19 July. It also provides a transcription of his dog tags, which indicates his mother, not his wife, was his next of kin. So it may have been that his mother was actually receiving the telegrams from the Army and she was updating Peggie--it's tough to tell, but it seems that the Army did notify his next of kin of his MIA status. Perhaps in the short time interval between their marriage and his deployment to Europe, he never had time to update his NOK information or his dogtags were never updated.

At some point after the war, the Army located and disinterred his remains, which were sent to Cherbourg for processing and probably confirmation of identification. Pure speculation on my part, but some of the confusing status changes may have been due to the recovery and positive identification of his remains, which apparently were reinterred in the Normandy American Cemetery. Regardless, the Army would have declared him as dead no later than 18 July 1946 (one year and one day after he was declared MIA).

In 1948, the government started a program to repatriate the remains of service personnel killed in WW2. The families had the choice of having their loved ones' remains returned to the U.S. or interred in a U.S. military cemetery overseas. The article on the 354th website indicates that Peggie received the papers to elect where to have his remains interred. Apparently, she signed the papers on the advice of a lawyer, so she must have indicated she wanted his remains to be reinterred in Europe and not repatriated to the U.S. I believe the government subsequently notified the families of the final overseas resting places of their NOK. Also confusing in the 354th article was the statement that signing the papers for the final disposition of his remains also allowed her to receive military benefits, something that she hadn't been able to get until that time--also an indication that perhaps his mother, not she, was listed originally as Lt. Harris' primary next of kin. It'd be interesting to have some additional details on what actually transpired.

Again, a very sad story, and I'm glad that she's finally gotten closure on the loss of her husband and that she can finally visit his final resting place.

[theRealSkiddz]

@MrSkeptic;

Very enlightening post. Could you post some of those links? They'd be interesting reads, that's for sure.

The lack of responses to your posts kind of reaffirm what I've been thinking, that half of these people hopping on the bashing Thornberry wagon seem to have no real argument. For example, you bring up a interesting point. She barely tried contacting her Rep. in '05? I do hope she was trying to find out even more, but I don't know since the story is a lazy account of things.

While her inquiries should have been answered immediately, if she was constantly sending mail requesting it, it would have gotten attention so much sooner. Especially if she contacted the news on how the current Rep. at the time wouldn't do anything. They would eat that sort of thing up.

A terrible circumstance, and CBS (like I said before), made a fast story, and a quicker headline. Why does this story portray the Rep. has an uncaring ghoul, when they don't even include in the story that they tried to find out how his office went about trying to get the records? Lazy journalism at its best.

[MrSkeptic]

@theRealSkiddz

I agree that it appears to be a somewhat lazy account that probably oversimplified this seemingly complex story in the interest of brevity and/or hyping the article.

Anyway, the American Battle Monuments Commission site (www.abmc.gov) shows where he's buried and lists his awards if you type his name into the WW2 database. The site also provides some discussion on how MIA cases were handled in the FAQs.

The 354th site article is at www.354thpmfg.com/BillieDHarris_part1.html

The MACR (Missing Air Crew Report) can be found at www.fold3.com (it's a pay site, but you might be able to get a free trial) or you can view thumbnails of the documents for free. You can search for him by name which should call up his P-51 serial number 44-13328 and MACR 7165.

Although not directly related to Lt. Harris' death, there's also an excellent and poignant article about the repatriation of the Dead from WW2 in an article titled "The Sergeant Comes Home" from the Nov 17, 1947 issue of Life magazine (my bad, I originally said the repatriation of remains started in 1948, but it was actually 1947). The story is told through the lens of an Army sergeant killed during the Battle of the Bulge. The URL for this article is very long, but you can find it by going to Google, clicking on "more" and "books", and search for "Sergeant Comes Home" (use the quotation marks). It's a very interesting read.

Hope this helps.

[1nativeson]

I agree that this representive owes this widow more than a written note. He should at the very least make a visit to her and say how sorry he is that he not his staff dropped the ball o this matter.
This wrong needs to never happen again.

[esq777]

Yet another conservative Republican who wraps himself in the flag and pretends to care about the troops, but when action is needed comes up empty.

[LilomeinNY]

I surely do hope he is ashamed of himself ,
"Treat others how you want to be treated "
It's really not that hard to do :)

[Kabel717]

Dj3414, the fact is every politician on the planet plays the game of plausible deniability. So we will never find any proof that this guy intentionally lied about this issue, but speaking from personal experience and as a veteran I myself have had similar experience. In my case it was Representative Jay Inslee from Washington who happens to be a Democrat. My point is Democrat or Republican, all of them play the same game, plausible deniability.

[raymailhot]

This representative wasn't a lawyer in his previous career, he apologized for his actions and didn't blame anyone else!

[FLAAGSHIP]

It is his responsibility to make sure that the action was completed correctly.........he did not!

[venusvegasvada]

That, Ladies and Gentleman, is a real woman.