Robert Douglas Harris

Robert Harris was working on advanced flight training at RAF Peplow when on July 31, Harris’ 31st birthday, his daughter Betty was born.  Sadly, the two would never meet.

Following the Dessau raid March 7, 1945, Harris was reported missing, presumed dead.  His remains were never recovered.  On December 12, 1945, Harris would be certified presumed dead by the RCAF.

Harris was well respected by his crew.  In a letter to Margaret Harris in June 1945, Gordon Nicol wrote “I never did meet anyone who had quite as high ideals as Bob, and I could go on at length about that.”

Memorials to Harris can be found at the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, England (Panel 279) and the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln, UK (Phase 1, Panel 46).  In Canada, a memorial to those lost in the war can be seen at the Bomber Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta.  Harris is also memorialized on page 522 of Canada’s Book of Remembrance which can be viewed both online and in the Room of Remembrance in the Visitor Welcome Centre on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.