Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Writer:Larry B. Dendy, 706/542-8078, ldendy@uga.edu
Contact: Maj. John Porambo, 706/542-0557,
porambo@arotc.uga.edu
Memorial service Sept. 9 to honor UGA graduate Noah Harris
who died in Iraq in June
Athens, Ga. – A memorial service will be held Friday, Sept.
9, at the University of Georgia to celebrate the life of
Noah Harris, a U.S. Army lieutenant and former captain of
the UGA cheerleading squad who was killed in Iraq in June, a
year and a half after graduating from the university.
The service will be at 11 a.m. in the university Chapel,
where on Dec. 20, 2003, Harris received his commission as a
second lieutenant after graduating from the Army ROTC
program. Earlier in the day he had received his bachelor’s
degree from the Terry College of Business.
Harris, who was from Ellijay, died June 18 when the vehicle
he was riding in was hit by rocket-propelled grenades while
on patrol near Buhritz in Iraq. Another soldier was killed
and a third injured in the attack, which occurred a week
before Harris’s 24th birthday. He was promoted posthumously
to first lieutenant.
The service is sponsored by the Army ROTC program and the
Terry College. Following the service, a reception will be
held behind the military science building during which the
weight room in the building will be named for Harris.
“Lt. Harris was a scholar, an athlete and a leader at UGA
and this service will honor his accomplishments and
celebrate his life,” said Maj. John Porambo, assistant head
of the Army ROTC program.
Harris was in the inaugural class of the Leonard Leadership
Scholars Program in the Terry College and completed the
program when he received his degree. He was a member of
Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and was on the varsity
cheerleading squad, serving as captain in his senior year.
Speakers at the service will include a representative of the
Terry College, a student in the Leonard Leadership Scholars
Program, a Sigma Phi Epsilon member and two Army ROTC
cadets. Members of Harris’s family including his parents,
Rick and Lucy Harris, will attend.
The service will include the Fallen Soldier Memorial, a
display that includes a pair of military boots and a rifle
standing upside down with dog tags and a military helmet
hanging from the rifle stock.
Photos and other memorabilia of Harris’s life as a UGA
student and soldier will also be on display.
The service will end with ROTC cadets tolling the Chapel
bell 21 times.
Harris entered ROTC following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, telling family and friends “You must serve some
higher purpose than yourself in life.” After receiving his
commission he went directly into training at Ft. Benning and
had been in Iraq since January of this year.
Harris is the second member of UGA’s chapter of Sigma Phi
Epsilon fraternity to die in Iraq. Bradley Arms, a student,
was killed in Fallujah last November. The UGA athletic
department will honor both Harris and Arms Sept. 10 in a
ceremony in Sanford Stadium prior to the Georgia-South
Carolina football game.
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