Grant J. Harris, Spanish Fork, Utah: an interview by Benjamin Bahlmann, January 26, 2001: Saving the Legacy tape nos. 521, 522 & 523

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GRANT J. HARRIS J R 26 2001 GJH: No, we aw it from a distance. We flew over the damage by the fir bombing that they'd conducted in the Tokyo area. Oh, that wa deva tation, mile after mile of it. Finally, the night we started back aboard the Essex, somebody down in the ewing section-they call it the sail-locker-had devised a big long red white and blue banner that stretched out, I guess, for a hundred feet or so. [Brief interruption as wife leaves room]. Before, we flew the American flag in the daytime but at night, we didn't light up anything. But that night, they turned all the lights on that great big huge banner that floated out behind us. The wind was whipping it from fore to aft. It was a beautiful thing. I felt patriotic. Before that time, my efforts were to stay alive and do what I could do against the Japanese. But then I finally could see, "Hey, this great country that I'm a part of has done it, and I'm a part of it!" That flag looked so pretty flying that night, lit up against the darkness, that huge red, white and blue banner. BB: You bring up an interesting point there. Was there a time that, where previously you'd been flying as an individual or for just your group, you finally could see you were part of a huge effort?" GJH: I could finally see the totality of it, yes. BB: It was first survival and then suddenly, once it was over, you could see the bigger cause of the thing. GJH: Yes, I was one of thousands of people who had been doing and suffering. BB: Did you stay for the actual signing of the surrender on the USS Missouri? GJH: We flew around it. If you see pictures of the ceremonies, you'll see a few hundred planes in the air at the time. I was one of them, a little flyspeck somewhere on the film. 88