Billy Joe Harrison attended Dante Church of God and East High school prior to the war. Private First Class Harrison served with Company G, Second Battalion, 4th Marines. He was killed in action from small arms fire while serving in Quang Tri, South Vietnam. Length of Service: 1 year. Service Occupation: Rifleman. Parents: George Clyde Harrison and Gladys Evelyn Lundy. Burial at Asbury Cemetery, Knoxville, TN.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, August 27, 1966
A young Knoxvillian who was proud to be a Marine was killed Wednesday, less than 10 days after he landed in South Vietnam. He was Pvt. Billy Joe Harrison, 19, son of Mrs. Gladys Weaver of St. Louis and the late George Harrison. His two brothers are in the Army. “Billy Joe was proud of the Marines,” said one of his sisters, Mrs. Charles Thompson. “He used to kid his brothers by saying the Marines did all of the fighting.”
The Defense Department notified the family yesterday of the death. The brothers are Sp.5 James Terry Harrison, 23, just back from a year’s service in Vietnam, and Sp.5 Anthony Wayne Harrison, 21, now stationed at Frt. Harrison, Va. Pvt. Harrison attended East High School. He leaves another sister, Mrs. Billy Ray Ingle, also of Knoxville.
He was a close friend of Pfc. Danny Allen, 18-year-old South Knoxvillian killed in action last Sunday. Pfc. Allen’s mother said today her son and Pvt. Harrison became friend while both were stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. “He said Billy Joe was his best friend.””after my son got to Vietnam he wrote and said Billy Joe was still with him. Mrs. Allen said. All of his friends had been sent to other places. They were real friends. They had been friends since they found out they were both from Knoxville.”
Mrs. Allen said she got a letter yesterday from her son, which had written apparently only hours before his death. “He said it had been raining all day and that he was muddy as a hog. The letter was muddy. He had written on the back of a letter I sent him and he used the addressed envelope I sent him in my last letter,” the mother said. “They had been going through the jungle for four days and were dug into foxholes on the top of a hill and snipers were firing all around him,” she said.
The Government reported that young Allen was mistakenly shot by a U.S. sentry while checking the perimeter of his company’s position. But Mrs. Allen said her son’s letter indicated he was in danger from enemy snipers. Mrs. Allen planned today to contact Pvt. Harrison’s family, whom she has not met. “I think they’re sending these 18-year-old boys in there without enough training,” she said.
- Rank: Private First Class
- Date of birth: 22 March 1947
- Date of death: 24 August 1966
- County: Knox
- Hometown: Knoxville
- Service Branch: Marine Corps
- Division/Assignment: 4th Marines
- Conflict: Vietnam
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Asbury Cemetery, Knoxville, Knox County, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XXIII, Top Panel
- Sponsored by: Raymond A. Haynes
Image Gallery
Click a thumbnail below to view at full size.
