The son of John Russell Harris and Alicia Henrietta Delaporte. John first married Josephine Nell Bennett on 6 Jul 1935 at Toronto. They were divorced on 22 May 1942 in England. He then married Aileen Rosalind Dunkeld on 26 May 1942 in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, England. She was his war bride. He died of a heart attack while visiting his sister-in-law at her cottage on Lake Champlain, Vermont.
Obituary: John N. Harris Former Pilot Wrote Novels, Short Stories
John Norman Harris 47, of Nanton Avenue, one of Canada's most talented novelists, died of a heart attack in Vermont yesterday.
With his wife and family he had motored to Halifax on a business trip, and on the way back stopped to visit relatives in Vermont for a few days. While taking a walk by himself before breakfast, he collapsed and died on the roadside.
Mr. Harris, the author of several novels, one of them a prizewinner, and a number of magazine stories, was a pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. For three years he was a prisoner of war in a German prison camp in Poland.
Born in Fort Frances, he was educated at Humberside Collegate Institue and the University of Toronto. His writing career began as a reporter on the Oshawa Times before he went overseas to join the RAF in 1937. After his release from prison camp in 1945 he served in England for a year as a flying officer. The prison camp formed the setting for his prize-winning novel Mail in a Maclean's magazine contest.
His other published books were The Sea Shall Not Have Them, which was a selection by several book groups in 1953. The Claws of Mercy, published in 1955, and Knights of the Air, in 1958. The Weird World of West Beattie, was published last year, and there were several other stories in the hands of his publisher at the time of his death.
His short stories have appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, Maclean's and other publications, and on television and radio.
Mr. Harris served four years in the public relations department of the Bell Telephone Co. in Montréal until 1951, when he joined the public relations staff of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. He spent last year touring Europe with his family to gather material for other works.
He leaves his wife, the former Aileen Dunkeld, three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary and Laura; a son, John and his stepmother, Mrs. J. Russell Harris.
Second obituary: John N. Harris, 49 Stalag Luft III grad
John Norman Harris, 49, of Nanton Ave, free-lance writer who helped plan the famous "wooden horse" escape from German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III, died yesterday of a heart attack while vacationing in Vermont.
Born in Fort Frances and educated at Toronto's Humberside Collegate and the University at Toronto, he went overseas in join the Royal Air Force before the outbreak of the war.
A bomber pilot, he was shot down over the Ruhr in 1942 and spent the rest of the war at Stalag Luft III. Although he was engaged in planning for the break he was not one of the escapees.
Seventy-six RAF and Dominion airmen crawled to freedom through a 350-foot tunnel in March, 1944, in the war's biggest mass escape but only three reached safety. Fifty were shot by the Gestapo. The tunnelers used a wooden exercise horse to cover the entrance to the tunnel.
Repatriated in 1945, Mr. Harris joined the Globe and Mail as a reporter, then transferred to public relations with Bell Telephone in Montréal and later with the Bank of Commerce in Toronto.
Two years ago he took up free-lancing full time and moved with his family to France and Spain, returning to Canada six months ago.
A contributor to the Star Weekly, radio and television, he based a CBC-TV play, "One of These Men is Guilty", on his wartime experiences. He wrote "The Weird World of West Beattie" and was researching another novel when he died.
He leaves his wife, the former Aileen Dunkeld, daughters Elizabeth, Mary and Laura, and a son John.
Obituary: John N. Harris Former Pilot Wrote Novels, Short Stories
John Norman Harris 47, of Nanton Avenue, one of Canada's most talented novelists, died of a heart attack in Vermont yesterday.
With his wife and family he had motored to Halifax on a business trip, and on the way back stopped to visit relatives in Vermont for a few days. While taking a walk by himself before breakfast, he collapsed and died on the roadside.
Mr. Harris, the author of several novels, one of them a prizewinner, and a number of magazine stories, was a pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. For three years he was a prisoner of war in a German prison camp in Poland.
Born in Fort Frances, he was educated at Humberside Collegate Institue and the University of Toronto. His writing career began as a reporter on the Oshawa Times before he went overseas to join the RAF in 1937. After his release from prison camp in 1945 he served in England for a year as a flying officer. The prison camp formed the setting for his prize-winning novel Mail in a Maclean's magazine contest.
His other published books were The Sea Shall Not Have Them, which was a selection by several book groups in 1953. The Claws of Mercy, published in 1955, and Knights of the Air, in 1958. The Weird World of West Beattie, was published last year, and there were several other stories in the hands of his publisher at the time of his death.
His short stories have appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, Maclean's and other publications, and on television and radio.
Mr. Harris served four years in the public relations department of the Bell Telephone Co. in Montréal until 1951, when he joined the public relations staff of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. He spent last year touring Europe with his family to gather material for other works.
He leaves his wife, the former Aileen Dunkeld, three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary and Laura; a son, John and his stepmother, Mrs. J. Russell Harris.
Second obituary: John N. Harris, 49 Stalag Luft III grad
John Norman Harris, 49, of Nanton Ave, free-lance writer who helped plan the famous "wooden horse" escape from German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III, died yesterday of a heart attack while vacationing in Vermont.
Born in Fort Frances and educated at Toronto's Humberside Collegate and the University at Toronto, he went overseas in join the Royal Air Force before the outbreak of the war.
A bomber pilot, he was shot down over the Ruhr in 1942 and spent the rest of the war at Stalag Luft III. Although he was engaged in planning for the break he was not one of the escapees.
Seventy-six RAF and Dominion airmen crawled to freedom through a 350-foot tunnel in March, 1944, in the war's biggest mass escape but only three reached safety. Fifty were shot by the Gestapo. The tunnelers used a wooden exercise horse to cover the entrance to the tunnel.
Repatriated in 1945, Mr. Harris joined the Globe and Mail as a reporter, then transferred to public relations with Bell Telephone in Montréal and later with the Bank of Commerce in Toronto.
Two years ago he took up free-lancing full time and moved with his family to France and Spain, returning to Canada six months ago.
A contributor to the Star Weekly, radio and television, he based a CBC-TV play, "One of These Men is Guilty", on his wartime experiences. He wrote "The Weird World of West Beattie" and was researching another novel when he died.
He leaves his wife, the former Aileen Dunkeld, daughters Elizabeth, Mary and Laura, and a son John.
The son of John Russell Harris and Alicia Henrietta Delaporte. John first married Josephine Nell Bennett on 6 Jul 1935 at Toronto. They were divorced on 22 May 1942 in England. He then married Aileen Rosalind Dunkeld on 26 May 1942 in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, England. She was his war bride. He died of a heart attack while visiting his sister-in-law at her cottage on Lake Champlain, Vermont.
Obituary: John N. Harris Former Pilot Wrote Novels, Short Stories
John Norman Harris 47, of Nanton Avenue, one of Canada's most talented novelists, died of a heart attack in Vermont yesterday.
With his wife and family he had motored to Halifax on a business trip, and on the way back stopped to visit relatives in Vermont for a few days. While taking a walk by himself before breakfast, he collapsed and died on the roadside.
Mr. Harris, the author of several novels, one of them a prizewinner, and a number of magazine stories, was a pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. For three years he was a prisoner of war in a German prison camp in Poland.
Born in Fort Frances, he was educated at Humberside Collegate Institue and the University of Toronto. His writing career began as a reporter on the Oshawa Times before he went overseas to join the RAF in 1937. After his release from prison camp in 1945 he served in England for a year as a flying officer. The prison camp formed the setting for his prize-winning novel Mail in a Maclean's magazine contest.
His other published books were The Sea Shall Not Have Them, which was a selection by several book groups in 1953. The Claws of Mercy, published in 1955, and Knights of the Air, in 1958. The Weird World of West Beattie, was published last year, and there were several other stories in the hands of his publisher at the time of his death.
His short stories have appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, Maclean's and other publications, and on television and radio.
Mr. Harris served four years in the public relations department of the Bell Telephone Co. in Montréal until 1951, when he joined the public relations staff of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. He spent last year touring Europe with his family to gather material for other works.
He leaves his wife, the former Aileen Dunkeld, three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary and Laura; a son, John and his stepmother, Mrs. J. Russell Harris.
Second obituary: John N. Harris, 49 Stalag Luft III grad
John Norman Harris, 49, of Nanton Ave, free-lance writer who helped plan the famous "wooden horse" escape from German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III, died yesterday of a heart attack while vacationing in Vermont.
Born in Fort Frances and educated at Toronto's Humberside Collegate and the University at Toronto, he went overseas in join the Royal Air Force before the outbreak of the war.
A bomber pilot, he was shot down over the Ruhr in 1942 and spent the rest of the war at Stalag Luft III. Although he was engaged in planning for the break he was not one of the escapees.
Seventy-six RAF and Dominion airmen crawled to freedom through a 350-foot tunnel in March, 1944, in the war's biggest mass escape but only three reached safety. Fifty were shot by the Gestapo. The tunnelers used a wooden exercise horse to cover the entrance to the tunnel.
Repatriated in 1945, Mr. Harris joined the Globe and Mail as a reporter, then transferred to public relations with Bell Telephone in Montréal and later with the Bank of Commerce in Toronto.
Two years ago he took up free-lancing full time and moved with his family to France and Spain, returning to Canada six months ago.
A contributor to the Star Weekly, radio and television, he based a CBC-TV play, "One of These Men is Guilty", on his wartime experiences. He wrote "The Weird World of West Beattie" and was researching another novel when he died.
He leaves his wife, the former Aileen Dunkeld, daughters Elizabeth, Mary and Laura, and a son John.
Obituary: John N. Harris Former Pilot Wrote Novels, Short Stories
John Norman Harris 47, of Nanton Avenue, one of Canada's most talented novelists, died of a heart attack in Vermont yesterday.
With his wife and family he had motored to Halifax on a business trip, and on the way back stopped to visit relatives in Vermont for a few days. While taking a walk by himself before breakfast, he collapsed and died on the roadside.
Mr. Harris, the author of several novels, one of them a prizewinner, and a number of magazine stories, was a pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. For three years he was a prisoner of war in a German prison camp in Poland.
Born in Fort Frances, he was educated at Humberside Collegate Institue and the University of Toronto. His writing career began as a reporter on the Oshawa Times before he went overseas to join the RAF in 1937. After his release from prison camp in 1945 he served in England for a year as a flying officer. The prison camp formed the setting for his prize-winning novel Mail in a Maclean's magazine contest.
His other published books were The Sea Shall Not Have Them, which was a selection by several book groups in 1953. The Claws of Mercy, published in 1955, and Knights of the Air, in 1958. The Weird World of West Beattie, was published last year, and there were several other stories in the hands of his publisher at the time of his death.
His short stories have appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, Maclean's and other publications, and on television and radio.
Mr. Harris served four years in the public relations department of the Bell Telephone Co. in Montréal until 1951, when he joined the public relations staff of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. He spent last year touring Europe with his family to gather material for other works.
He leaves his wife, the former Aileen Dunkeld, three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary and Laura; a son, John and his stepmother, Mrs. J. Russell Harris.
Second obituary: John N. Harris, 49 Stalag Luft III grad
John Norman Harris, 49, of Nanton Ave, free-lance writer who helped plan the famous "wooden horse" escape from German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III, died yesterday of a heart attack while vacationing in Vermont.
Born in Fort Frances and educated at Toronto's Humberside Collegate and the University at Toronto, he went overseas in join the Royal Air Force before the outbreak of the war.
A bomber pilot, he was shot down over the Ruhr in 1942 and spent the rest of the war at Stalag Luft III. Although he was engaged in planning for the break he was not one of the escapees.
Seventy-six RAF and Dominion airmen crawled to freedom through a 350-foot tunnel in March, 1944, in the war's biggest mass escape but only three reached safety. Fifty were shot by the Gestapo. The tunnelers used a wooden exercise horse to cover the entrance to the tunnel.
Repatriated in 1945, Mr. Harris joined the Globe and Mail as a reporter, then transferred to public relations with Bell Telephone in Montréal and later with the Bank of Commerce in Toronto.
Two years ago he took up free-lancing full time and moved with his family to France and Spain, returning to Canada six months ago.
A contributor to the Star Weekly, radio and television, he based a CBC-TV play, "One of These Men is Guilty", on his wartime experiences. He wrote "The Weird World of West Beattie" and was researching another novel when he died.
He leaves his wife, the former Aileen Dunkeld, daughters Elizabeth, Mary and Laura, and a son John.
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He was cremated.
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