Dr. Roger Harris, featured in Ken Burns Documentary, Visits Class on Vietnam War

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Vietnam veteran and Roxbury native Dr. Roger Harris spoke to juniors and seniors yesterday as part of Mr. Vin Bradley's "The American War in Vietnam" class.

 

Dr. Harris was featured in Ken Burns' documentary series, "The Vietnam War," in Episode 5: "This is What We Do."

Through an interactive question-and-answer session, Dr. Harris related his life story of growing up in Roxbury with relatives who had been part of the American military tradition, including a relative who fought with Teddy Roosevelt as a Buffalo soldier in the Spanish-American War. Upon finishing high school at Boston English, Dr. Harris enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in Vietnam during 1967.

While "in country" Dr. Harris served near the Demilitarized Zone at Con Thien (three kilometers from North Vietnam). Dr. Harris shared his thoughts on what it was like to be a Marine in Vietnam, what combat was like, and his career as a teacher and administrator in the Boston Public Schools during the Busing Crisis.

At Con Thien, Dr. Harris shared how he worried if he was going to make it home, and his mother reassured him, "You're special. God has a plan for you."

Upon making it back to Boston, Dr. Harris, an African-American, could not get a cab to take him home from Logan Airport to Roxbury because of the racial climate in that era.

Dr. Harris found his calling working in the Boston Public Schools at Hyde Park High School and other schools, and then as a Principal and eventually as a professor at Boston University.

While in Vietnam, Dr. Harris made three prayers: "Please God if I get hit, let me die," he said, not wanting to lose a limb. "I want to see my baby girl," he said; his girlfriend had given birth to his daughter while he was in Vietnam. "I want to play college football," he said.

He promised God he would do something worthwhile with his life if he returned.

All of Dr. Harris' prayers were answered (he was MVP of Boston University's football team in 1974), and he decided to serve young people in Boston when graduated as a teacher.

While the struggle over racism was a prominent feature of America life at home, Dr. Harris said in his unit in the Marines in Vietnam he did not experience any racism in Vietnam.

"Racism is a man-made construct," he said. He related a story of getting to know a man named Jack Joyce from South Boston, and how two young men from different neighborhoods in the city became friends.

Dr. Harris was a teacher at Hyde Park High during busing trying to break up fights, and in the middle of the melee, he bumped into a police officer: Jack Joyce from South Boston. They then hugged each other and had a good laugh.

Dr. Harris challenged students to reflect on their path. "The purpose of life is to make the path wider," he said. "What are you going to do with your life?"

Read more about Dr. Harris:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/peter_gelzinis/2017/09/gelzinis_skin_color_can_t_break_bonds_made_in_vietnam

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/09/11/vietnam-black-and-white/45JfR1E7ql4T0AKhjJJaHI/story.html