Cecil Harris shot down nearly as many enemy planes as Joe Foss, another South Dakota farm boy turned war hero, but Harris, the second-highest scoring Navy ace of World War II, was relatively unknown, even within the Navy, until recently.

Today, Harris, who died in 1981, and six other combat pilots from South Dakota, will be honored at a ceremony recognizing their induction into the South Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame's South Dakota Combat Aircrew Memorial. The ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. today at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

Harris, who grew up on a Cresbard area farm in Faulk County, was a student at Northern State Teachers College when he joined the Navy in 1941. When the United States entered World War II, Harris was initially sent to North Africa. Later he went to the Pacific where he shot down 24 enemy planes, most of them in a six-week period in 1944. Three times, he shot down four enemy planes in one day. Harris' plane never took a single bullet.

Lt. Harris, although ranked 10th in seniority when he joined Fighting Squadron 18 on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Intrepid, was elevated to flight officer, the No. 3 post, as a result of his skills and leadership, according to Ken Schroeder of Rapid City, a member of the South Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame. Schroeder, a retired Navy pilot, has made it his mission to get recognition for Harris.

One of Harris' friends in the squadron on the Intrepid was Lt.j.g. Harold Thune of Murdo, who became the father of Sen. John Thune. The elder Thune, who also is being honored in the ceremony today at Ellsworth, called Harris "exceptional." "He was better than the best," Thune said in a prepared statement. "He didn't just tell you to do it. He showed the way. He was a leader among men."

Schroeder said Harris, not the squadron commander nor the executive officer, led the squadron through six weeks of intensive air combat near the Philippines and Formosa. Schroeder said that Harris' 24 enemy kills were second only to those of Navy Cmdr. David McCampbell in the war. But Schroeder said Harris shot down more fighters, 17, a much more difficult feat than shooting down enemy bombers.

Schroeder said when he met Harris' widow recently, she asked him why he was working to bring the pilot's exploits to light.

"I said, 'Cecil is my hero and I want to show everybody why he should be theirs,'" Schroeder recalled.

Harris was awarded the Navy Cross, Silver Star, and second gold star, Distinguished Flying Cross with second and third gold stars, and the Air Medal with two gold stars.

After the war, Harris returned to South Dakota and resumed teaching school. But when the Korean War broke out, he was recalled to active duty. Harris stayed in the Navy, retiring in 1967 as a captain.

He died in 1981 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

In March, the state Transportation Commission named an 80-mile stretch of S.D. Highway 20 between U.S. Highways 83 and 281 the Cecil E. Harris Highway.

Harris, Thune and five others were inducted into the South Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame's Combat Aircrew Memorial last fall.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8415 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com.

Air combat honorees

Seven new members of the South Dakota Combat Aircrew Memorial of the South Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame will be recognized today at a ceremony at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

They are:

- Navy Capt. Cecil E. Harris of Cresbard, who shot down 24 enemy aircraft in the Pacific Theater, becoming the second-highest scoring Navy ace of World War II. Harris scored most of his victories in an F-6F Hellcat. Harris died in 1981.

- Navy Lt.j.g. Harold Thune of Murdo, who flew more than 50 combat missions off the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Intrepid in the Pacific Theater. Thune shot down four Japanese aircraft in one mission and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on Dec. 15, 1944.

- Lt. Col. Thomas K. Oliver, a B-24 pilot who flew 18 missions in the Mediterranean Theater in World War II. Oliver, who lives in Rapid City, was shot down May 6, 1944, and was held as a prisoner of war until he escaped with his air crew through Yugoslavia on Aug. 10, 1944.

- 2nd Lt. Lynus Ryan, originally from Kimball who now lives in Custer. Ryan was a glider pilot in World War II. Ryan also served in Korea as a forward air observer, flying an L-19. Then-Congressman John Thune in 2002 awarded Ryan the Korean War Service Medal.

- Maj. Charles Summers, a native of Nebraska who now lives in Rapid City. Summers was an F-100 Super Saber pilot, who served as a wing commander in Korea and served three tours in Vietnam. He received a Silver Star for gallantry in action.

- Lt. Col. Lawrence E. Pravecek, a Huey helicopter pilot in Vietnam with the 48th Assault Helicopter Company. Pravecek, who lives in Winner where he grew up, finished his military career in 1967.

- The late Cpl. Richard C. Callies of Howard, who served with the 383rd Fighter Squadron in the European Theater during World War II.