A veteran cow poke ambled into San Antonio Saturday to help kick off a roundup of survivors of the U.S.S. Franklin, the big Navy carrier that fought off a rendezvous with death.
He was Fred (Red) Harris, former colorful Texas state senator and World War II hero, who now calls his New Mexico ranch near Sapello, New Mexico, his home, came to San Antonio for a reunion with Roy Ford, 311 Notre Dame, another U.S.S. Franklin survivor. A news story which appeared in San Antonio Express recently about the reunion of Ford with another Franklin hero set him on the trail to the Alamo City.
SURVIVORS
Ford, who had been quietly trying to roundup some 2,000 survivors of the Franklin battle, was overjoyed to meet his sailor comrade again. And Harris quickly signed on as a hand in the roundup.
Both were aboard the U.S.S. Franklin when she was bombed by a Japanese plane in the Pacific. Both stayed with the flaming vessel and helped to bring the stricken ship into port. More than a thousand of the 3,300 aboard the vessel paid with their lives. Only 704 were able to remain on the big ship and bring her home to glory.
Harris was awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership in bringing the flames under control and helping save the vessel. His role was portrayed in a movie about the Franklin, “Battle Stations,” by William Bendix. Only comment Ford had about Bendix’ role was “he wasn’t rough enough.”
Authentic Movie
Harris, the only Rear Admiral in the Texas Navy by legislative action, says the movie about the Franklin was “as authentic as the Navy could afford to make it.” Harris and Ford are both members of the “704 Club,” which includes the men who stayed on the Franklin, battled the flames and brought her into port. But both agree that a roundup of the Franklin survivors should include the wounded evacuees as well as those who were able to remain aboard the ship. Survivors are urged to contact Ford. Harris, a Dallas County commissioner before the war, quit his post and volunteered for Navy duty. He was a lieutenant aboard the Franklin. He returned to Texas following the war and ran for the State Senate. He didn’t seek re-election in 1950 and moved to New Mexico.
Rear Admiral
He had the honor of being named a Rear Admiral in the Texas Navy so that he could accept the Battleship Texas from Admiral Chester Nimitz. Ford recalled one incident which happened during the battle to save the Franklin. “A wounded sailor was dying for lack of blood,” Ford said. “Harris, although wounded himself, volunteered blood to save the sailor, who was from the Bronx in New York,” he said. During the transfusion, Ford said the sailor opened his eyes and saw Harris, a well-known shipmate, and said “now I’m gonna be a Texas son-of-a-gun.”
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