Kyle Ray Harris served in WWII as a Staff Sergeant. According to daughters Joyce Harris and Margaret Farmer, he was interviewed by the Jefferson Post, but he didn't tell much. He thought he'd go to hell for killing people. He didn't like to talk about it, and he didn't like to remember it. He got saved after the war and testified that one day when he was in the woods he got down on his knees to ask for forgiveness.
One night he recalled sitting in a town, and someone started shooting. The next morning when he found out it was German women, he was very upset. Their commander said that Hitler came through town one day without his shirt, flexing his muscles. While Kyle was stationed in Germany, Hitler was captured. Kyle visited the concentration camps after the Germans were captured and recalled how horrible they were. “In one town, folks went and dug up their Bibles after they were liberated.”
Kyle was in the service for 3 years and came out in 1945. While in the service he earned a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and several other metals. He met and married Dorothy Clyde after the war. They had four children, two boys (Dickie and Buzz) and two girls (Joyce and Margaret). He worked as a carpenter after the army.
He was a strict father and a good, honest man. He enjoyed sitting on the front porch on Sundays, reading his Bible and playing his guitar or banjo. He also enjoyed working in his shop. He regularly played music at Ashe Council on Aging before he passed away in 2002.
