Big & Rich song chronicles area man’s experience while in Vietnam

By Lynn Taylor Rick, Journal Staff Writer | Sunday, September 17, 2006

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Niles Harris wants people to remember that his Vietnam War experience is not particularly unique.

“Anything I did, a million other guys did the same thing. I just happen to run into a couple of songwriters … not just songwriters, but two guys who did give a damn,” the Deadwood man said.

Those “two guys,” otherwise known as the music duo Big & Rich, have taken one of Harris’ Vietnam battle experiences and turned it into the song and documentary “The 8th of November.”

Big and Rich will perform “The 8th of November” at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, as part of the Vietnam War Memorial Dedication in Pierre.

Harris plans to be there, enjoying the music and the friendship.

The tale of two young musicians and a pony-tail wearing Vietnam vet began about four years ago when Harris waited on the then-unknown Big & Rich at the Buffalo Bar in Deadwood. At the time, Big & Rich were playing a gig for “eats and lodging,” and Harris was bartending.

Kenny Alphin (also known as Big Kenny) took an instant liking to a black top hat that Harris wore that evening. “Big liked the hat, so he wore it during that set, and I just told him to keep it,” Harris said. The hat has become a trademark for Alphin.

The next day, Harris spotted the two men eating breakfast and offered to show them a few of the Black Hills’ old gold mines. While tooling around in Harris’ Bronco, Alphin and John Rich noticed the 173rd Airborne Brigade decals on the vehicle and asked Harris about his Vietnam experiences.

He told them about Nov. 8, 1965.

On that day, Harris and his platoon, as well as several other platoons, fought a battle on Hill 65 in War Zone D. Vastly outnumbered by the enemy, 48 American soldiers died that day. Of the 30 men in Harris’ platoon, only five survived.

Harris, 19 at the time, was shot in the right leg early in the battle. Because of the heavy fighting, it took 12 hours for him and the other injured to be evacuated. Harris remembers medic Lawrence Joel taking care of the wounded, despite being shot twice himself. Joel earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery.

After half a dozen surgeries and nearly two years in and out of hospitals, Harris returned to military duty. He remained in the military for 25 years, retiring in 1987.

Although he refused to dwell on what happened on Hill 65, Harris says he never forgot either. “On Nov. 8, I always used to have a drink for the boys. Get dressed up and have a drink,” he said.

For a year after hearing the story, Alphin and Rich corresponded with Harris, intent on writing a song that would do Harris’ experience justice. Then, while vacationing in New Orleans three months before Hurricane Katrina, Harris got a call from the musicians. They had a song written and recorded and wanted him to preview it before doing a final recording.

“They hit it just about right on the nose,” Harris said of “The 8th of November.”

Then came another request: Would Harris go back to Vietnam with them for a documentary?

It wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.

“I didn’t want to go to ‘Nam or anything like that,” Harris said. “I just didn’t feel like going back there. I didn’t leave anything there, and I didn’t feel like I wanted to go back.”

But he did.

Gary Chapman, the documentary’s writer/director/producer, said Harris did it for his friends.

“Why would he ever want to go back there? He did if for Kenny and John, and he did it for those 48 men, and he did it for every living Vietnam veteran,” Chapman said.

In September 2005, Chapman and a film crew followed Alphin, Rich and Harris to the jungles of Vietnam. Together, they found the site of the battle. Deep in a bomb crater now overgrown with jungle, Harris buried the boots he wore during the battle. Then, he toasted his fallen comrades.

Although the jungle was less dense than during the war, Harris said much of it was the same. “Going back there was the same stinky, wet jungle that it was when I left.”

The 51-minute documentary aired on the Great American Country cable network in July and is being sold with the medication Prilosec OTC, a promotional sponsor of the song.

Vietnam era vets who registered will also receive a free DVD of the documentary and the music video for “The 8th of November” in their gift bags during the dedication.

Harris says that although he’s pleased with the outcome of “The 8th of November,” he’s a little tired of the notoriety. Since the documentary and song were released this year, he has appeared on the Today Show, Don Imus and Fox, to name only a few. He’s ready to return to his life but not before attending the Country Music Awards with Big & Rich in November. The song and video have been nominated.

“I didn’t think it would do what it did,” Harris said about the success of “The 8th of November.”

Chapman isn’t as surprised. He knew the story of Harris and his fellow soldiers would be compelling, largely because Harris is the type of man he is.

“This is more than a good story. I quickly decided that Niles Harris was one of the most fabulous humans I have ever met …

“He’s really a reluctant hero,” Chapman said. “And it’s such a compelling story that needs to be told.”

Contact Lynn Taylor Rick at 394-8414 or lynn.taylorrick@rapidcityjournal.com

Country music duo Big & Rich wrote their new song, “The 8th of November” about their Deadwood friend, Niles Harris.

Here are the lyrics:

The 8th of November

He said goodbye to his momma

As he left South Dakota

To fight for the red, white and blue

He was 19 in green with a new M-16

Just doin’ what he had to do

He was dropped in the jungle

Where the choppers would rumble

With the smell of napalm in the air

Then the sergeant said “Look up ahead”

And like a dark, evil cloud

1,200 came down

on him and 29 more

They fought for their lives

But most of them died in the 173rd Airborne

On the 8th of November,

The angels were cryin’

As they carried his brothers away

With the fire rainin’ down

And the hell all around

There were few men left standin’ that day

Saw the eagle fly,

Through a clear, blue sky

1965, the 8th of November

Now he’s 58

And his ponytail’s grey

But the battle still plays in his head

He limps when he walks,

But he’s strong when he talks

About the shrapnel they left in his leg

He puts on a gray suit

Over his airborne tattoo

He ties it on one time a year

And remembers the fallen,

As he orders a tall one

And swallows it down with his tears