Losing someone close is hard; losing a life partner must be agony. Finding the person whom you want to spend the rest of your life with is special and necessary, so losing them means changing your whole life. Peggy Harris lost her husband Billie after six weeks of marriage. What she found out nearly seven decades after is almost unbelievable.
Meet Peggy Harris
Peggy had to say goodbye to her husband of six weeks, Billie Harris. He was off to war like millions of men in WW2, and like millions of wives and mothers, Peggy patiently awaited his return. However, Billie never came back.
First, They Said…
…”he’s missing.” Then they said, “he’s alive”.
Then They Said…
…”he’s been killed”. After some time, it was difficult to believe anything in the mail. They could not even definitively tell her where he was buried, stating that he was at one cemetery and then correcting to state he was at another. Finally, officials told her they couldn’t be sure if those were his remains at all.
So She Wrote To Her Congressman Like A Good American
Peggy was determined to get some information on her husband. She got a reply from her congressman…
She Got A Response, But It Left Her Wondering
Mac Thornberry responded to Peggy’s letter, saying Billie was MIA. But something was not right.
Billie’s Cousin Strongly Disagreed With Thornberry’s Letter…
“Didn’t feel it was right that he just went to war and didn’t come back. End of story.”
He Began Investigating For Peggy
After searching through as many documents as he could find for anyone named “Billie Harris,” the cousin finally had something: a grave site.
So Why Did No One Tell His Wife?
Billie Harris was laid to rest with other American soldiers in Normandy, France. He was right along the path in plain sight. Now the question remained, why didn’t the U.S. government tell this to the grieving widow?
So Many Lingering Questions…
Peggy continued to wonder about her “missing” spouse. Peggy had accepted that she would not see Billie alive again, but she simply had to know how he spent his last day.
More Than MIA, Billie Was A HERO
The handsome pilot, forgotten by his own government, left a massive impact on people thousands of miles away.
Unbeknownst To His Family,…
…Billie had been flying over French countryside the day that he died.
More Specifically…
…the town of Les Ventes. This town exists today because Billie Harris was a great pilot.
According to all accounts, Billie’s plane was falling from the sky…
…heading directly for the town. Then, Harris made the split-second decision that saved hundreds and made local history. He maneuvered the plane to crash a safe distance away from the town, saving its people and the generations of families who now learn about him in school.
For 68 Years, The Town Has Celebrated Their Hero…
…as his wife wondered, alone in the U.S. Billie was an American hero, but the U.S. government never delivered his fate to his grieving family. As a town in a foreign country was singing his praises to show their gratitude, the U.S. was giving his loyal widow the “run around”.
She Got To Visit And Hear His Story For Herself
A single eyewitness lives to tell the tale of Billie D. Harris. Emotions ran high as he retold the crash he witnessed on July 17th, 1944. Peggy finally knew what Billie’s last day on earth was like. The townspeople shared photos and memories of that day and the burial of their hero, bringing comfort to his widow after 68 long years.
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