army specialist dustin j harris

Army Specialist Dustin J. Harris

Remember Our Heroes

Army Specialist Dustin J. Harris, 21, of Patten, Maine

Spc. Harris was assigned to the 172nd Brigade Support Battalion, 172nd

Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Alaska; killed April 6

when an improvised device detonated while he was conducting dismounted

patrol operations in Bayji, Iraq.

www.morningsentinel.mainetoday.com -- A 21-year-old soldier from

Patten became the 17th Mainer to die in the three-year-old Iraq war

this week when he was killed by a roadside bomb.

Spc. Dustin J. Harris died Thursday while on patrol with the 172

Brigade Support Battalion out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Harris was

on foot patrol with elements of the 101st Airborne Division in Beiji,

150 miles north of Baghdad, when the improvised explosive device

detonated nearby, the Army said.

Word of his death saddened many residents in his hometown of about

1,100 just outside the northern entrance of Baxter State Park. His

mother, a school secretary, and father, a trucker, and other family

members were in seclusion and too devastated to talk, according to a

man who answered the phone at the family's home and identified himself

as Harris' grandfather.

Rae Bates, principal at Katahdin Middle and High School, from which

Harris graduated in 2002, said Harris was "one of those outstandingly

good people." "He was a talented young man, kind and considerate, who

got along well with adults," Bates said.

His only sibling, a brother, is a senior at the school. On Friday the

school marked Harris' death with a moment of silence.

Harris' family goes back several generations in Patten. His parents

both graduated from Katahdin High and his grandparents on both sides

are from the community, Bates said. She said she tried to talk Harris

out the military and into going to college instead. But he was eager

to join after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"He was very intent and committed," Bates said.

While in Iraq, Harris corresponded with students in his aunt's

fourth-grade class, Bates said. They sent him care packages and cards.

He would write back.

"So indeed he has touched us," Bates said of the community.

In high school, Harris was an outstanding soccer player who traveled

to England to play soccer one spring, she said. He was active in the

Stetson United Methodist Church. But most of all, she said, he was

known for his big smile and gentle ways.

"He had a lovely smile," she said.

Members of Maine's congressional delegation confirmed the death.

"These are trying times and words cannot do justice to the honor with

which Dustin served his country and the sadness and loss his family

now feels," U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud said in a prepared statement.

Michaud, a Democrat who represents Maine's 2nd congressional district,

lives nearby in East Millinocket.

Gov. John Baldacci's office said flags will be ordered flown at

half-staff on the day of Harris' funeral.

''Our thoughts and prayers are with Specialist Harris' family during

this difficult time,'' said Baldacci. ''James served his state and his

nation honorably and all of Maine mourns his loss.''