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Happy birthday to Terrence "Salty" Harris. His nickname came from his time in the US Navy before transferring to the Army and volunteering for the paratroopers. Sgt Harris along with Mike Ranney led the mutiny against Herbert Sobel which resulted in Sgt Harris being transferred out of Easy Company. Eventually he joined the Pathfinders and was one of the first to make the jump into Normandy. Salty Harris was killed by a sniper at Carentan. He was played by Luke Griffin in the series

#band of brothers #Terrence Harris #salty Harris #Luke Griffin

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Terrence "Salty" Harris

June 18 1944: Last jump

#salty harris #band of brothers #Currahee! ♠️#luke griffin #my bob edits #my edits #my gifs #I owe him a poppy #we weren't allowed to look for his grave in Normandy because the grass was kept pretty for the commemorations #terrence harris

I had heard rumblings of a mutiny as soon as my court-martial was officially announced. Sergeants Mike Ranney and “Salty” Harris were the instigators. They called all the NCOs together in the company dayroom to discuss what they were going to do. Only a few of the noncommissioned officers were absent because Ranney and Harris did not want the word to reach Sobel until they had decided on what course of action to take. They invited me to the meeting. I went and told them not to do anything—any mutiny was in itself a court-martial offense. As I was in the middle of my plea asking them not to go through with this mutiny, Sobel walked in the door. Everyone just froze in place; there was not a sound. Ranney was the first to recover his voice and started off with something like, “Now how can we improve our athletic program?” This didn’t fool Sobel, I am sure, but without a word, he picked up a book and left. I then excused myself and returned to battalion. After careful deliberation, the NCOs decided to bypass battalion and present a formal protest directly to Colonel Sink, our regimental commander. Each wrote a formal protest against Sobel and turned in his stripes.

- Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters

#band of brothers #mike ranney #terrence harris #richard winters #easy company #bobedit #mygifs #quite a change

Terrence C. “Salty” Harris

Another boy who never returned home. He was not with Easy long, he was transferred but that doesn’t change the fact he was a part of their story.

The Real Salty Harris:

Terrence Condon Harris was born on October 5, 1920 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. His parents were Albert and Myrtle Harris. He was their second child out of three. He had an older brother Richard, who was 2 years older and a younger sister Annette, who was 7 years younger. His father was an insurance salesman. Growing up, his family moved from Oklahoma, to Arkansas, to Glendale, California.

In 1940, Terrence was currently enrolled the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. He later resigned due to the pressure of accumulated demerits. He was denied entry into the Air Force (better known as the Army Air Corps back then). He stayed with the Navy and made several trips as a merchant seaman to Australia. It was this beginning in the Navy that earned him the name Salty.

He enlisted on August 17, 1942. He volunteered to be a paratrooper. He was one of the original Toccoa men, one of the original men of Easy Company. Terrence, in the early days of Easy, was a private. He soon became a staff sergeant in the 3rd platoon. He ran his men on Navy terms, using “starboard” instead of right and telling them to “swab the deck”. Shifty once said that Terrence one day happily sung Navy songs on repeat just to torment his men. He drove them nuts repeating the songs.

Forrest Guth claims that Terrence was “a real good man...Rough. Touch. He was a lot of fun and a great friend.”

Terrence’s real claim to fame was his involvement with the Sobel Mutiny. Mike Ranney was one of Terrence’s best friends. Ranney was also a part of the mutiny. In a journal entry, Ranney writes that Terrence -“a broad-faced, delightful Irishman...”- and he started the mutiny.

He says, “Naïve innocents that we were, Salty and I organized a mutiny. Essentially, we got a all of the non-commissioned officers to threaten to resign unless Sobel was removed. The only exception in our ranks was the first Sergeant Bill Evans… The next morning, Salty and I were arrested by military police and taken under guard to the regimental headquarters. Colonel Sink outlined the situation tersely and sufficiently: “I don’t know who in the hell you two bastards think you are, but you obviously don’t realize the seriousness of the situation you have created. I could have you shot for mutiny in a war zone. This regiment is going into combat and I don’t want any disturbances just now. Plus, you both have good records and we may be able to salvage something of the investment we have in your training. So, I’m just going to bust both of you in the rank of private, transfer you out of Easy Company in separate directions, and keep an eye on you so that you don’t cause any more problems.”

Salty was transferred to A company in the First Battalion neither of them were allowed to return to Easy Company, even to get their bags.

But separating them did not last long. Both Ranney and Terrence became Path Finders. Path Finders were supposed to jump ahead of the Airborne and set up beacona so that the planes carrying the paratroopers could see the drops zones easily.

Ranney transferred back to Easy before the Easy Company Normandy jump. Terrence stayed with the Path Finders and jumped with them into Normandy. Only one man in the group of Path Finders was allowed to carry the beacon. Terrence was that man, making him important to the goal.

Terrence’s headstone reads that he was killed June 18, 1944. But, the Battle of Carentan happened between the 10th and 14th of June, so this date might be wrong. In fact, it should be noted that one other veteran said that these dates were often when they found the body, not when the person died. In fact, letters from Burr Smith and Ranney imply that Terrence was killed in the battle.

July 25, 1944- Ranney’s letter to Annette:

“Dear Annette, …You’ve probably gotten by now a crudely written letter concerning Salty. You see, Annette, I guess I liked him better than I ever have anyone else - he was that kind of a guy. He was the sort of leader whose men would do anything for him. I’m not, and because if that I guess I make him my example. I tried to do as he did. And I’m trying now.

“…if he could have known what was ahead, he’d have asked that you take it in stride and gonon just the same. Maybe all this sounds strange to you, but I think that’s what he’d want. AnnetteX there’s a bunch of guys in this company who feel as you do- “it just doesn’t seem possible he’s really gone,” but it won’t stop them from doing their job, don’t let it stop you.”

Ranney wrote her again later, in response to something she had sent back, “…I found all possible information. Salty was killed instantly by a sniper within our lines during the fighting near Carentan in Normandy. I’m sorry I haven’t been able as yet to find out where he’s buried. As soon as I do, I’ll let you know. At the time he was with [a different] company -so I wasn’t with him.

“…Take this the way he would want you to, Annette. He believed in a fate -most of us do now- the kind of fate that has little regard for race, color, or creed. If he could have known what was in store, it wouldn’t have changed his actions. It came the way he wanted it to- he didn’t suffer.”

September 7, 1944 - Burr Smith’s leader to Annette:

“Dear Annette, I don’t know if Salty ever mentioned me in his letters to you or not, but I’ve been his friend for nearly two years, ever since the first day at Toccoa. At any rate, I feel that I should drop you a line to let you know how sorry I am…If it was in my power to do so, I’d have taken his place, and I say that in all sincerity. I was wounded the same day he was hit, and I didn’t know [that he had died] until I was released from the hospital. You’ll never know how I felt when Red Wright told me.

“The last time I saw T.C. he came trudging down a dusty lane - all smiles - and I was so glad to see him that I cried - actually cried with relief to see him. I thought he was gone D-Day, and go see him was heaven on earth.

“…I hope I haven’t made you feel worse. We all miss him like mad. [He was] one of the grandest people God ever placed on this rotten earth…The only course open is to pledge myself to the cause of making sure that the things he died for are not forgotten.”

Forrest Guth, who learned about Terrence’s death when the company returned to England, stated about Terrence’s death: “It’s funny. We were going and we expected some people not to make it, so it wasn’t as much of a shock as it maybe should have been. But we did miss him. I still miss him.”

Another thing in the book with Guth’s words was that there was an animosity in Easy after his death towards Colonel Sink for transferring Terrence. In Paul Roger’s words: “It was not so much the fact that Harris had died, but the fact he died not with his friends, not with the people he knew, but among strangers.”