By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The innocence and optimism of a child can inspire greatness.
For retired Sgt. First Class Nathaniel Harris Jr., his childhood dream led to a career that strengthened his family, bond with his fellow soldiers and soul. At the middle of it all as his late daughter Lavetta A. Harris.
Nathaniel and his wife Susan A. Harris welcomed their first child a few years into his U.S. Army career in the mid-1980s.
“She was born with some physical issues,” Harris recalled. “She had seizures and breathing issues. She passed away in 1995 at the age of 12. That was devastating. But three years prior to her passing we had LaKiva.
“She was only 3-year-old when my Lavetta passed and LaKiva became my rock,” he continued. “She still is today and she’s 30 years old today. She’s always going to be my baby.”
Harris’ baby is expecting her first child this January. The soon-to-be proud grandpa said his journey to becoming Sgt. Papa started as a little boy in Memphis daydreaming.
“It started back when I was in elementary school,” he recalled. “We lived over on Alcy by the old Defense Depot on Airways. I would see these green planes flying over our house. I found out they were C-130s when I got into the military.”
The son of Nathaniel Sr. and Mary L. Harris was intrigued by the designs and sounds of the military air vessels.
“I would see these planes flying over the house and I told my Momma, ‘Those are Army planes,’” he said. “‘I’m thinking about joining the Army.’ Once I graduated out of high school, it was still three or four years before I decided to join the Army because the jobs I was getting were dead end jobs. I said I’ll keep the dead end jobs but at least join the Reserves.”
Harris graduated from Carver High School in 1973 and once he met Susan in 1976 he was inspired to chase his childhood dream.
“Being in the military is just like being in a civilian job,” he noted. “You’ve got your good days. You’ve got your bad days. I had a good time. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Even with my experiences in Iraq, I wouldn’t trade it all for anything.”
Despite being in the draft, Harris missed the Vietnam Era and completed basic training in August 1979.
For the first part of his service, Harris served in Germany, Honduras and Kuwait.
Meanwhile Susan was back in Memphis managing the household and nursing their daughter.
She just graduated out of high school and we dated for three years when we decided to get married,” Harris said. “She was fantastic, especially during that year I was deployed. She took everything by reins and ran with it. She made sure all the bills were paid. She even mowed the lawn when I was gone. She took care of everything.”
The couple dealt with the loss of their first-born together. They began to raise LaKiva as Harris saw the finishing line to his military career.
Then came the terrorist attacks on America on Sept. 11, 2001. The United States military was embarking on Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 48-year-old Harris felt an obligation to continue to serve his country.
“I was kind of excited,” he recalled. “Since I was a platoon sergenant and the oldest one enlisted in my unit at 48-year-old, I didn’t have to go to Iraq. They had me listed medically because I had bad knees.
“But I said ‘No.’ All my soldiers loved me,” Harris continued. “They said, ‘Sgt. Harris, we’re going to need you. We call you Granddad. But we know you’re not. We need our Sgt. And we’re going to protect you.’ That’s how I ended up in Iraq.”
Earlier in Harris’ military career he lived his dream by flying on those C-130s that flew over his childhood home. He also took rides on a C-141 and Black Hawk Helicopter. Fast forward to 2003, Harris was driving recovery vehicles and helping to make sure roads were safe for soldiers.
Harris’ military service official concluded Oct. 31, 2014.
“It taught me manhood,” Harris said of his time in the U.S. Army. “It taught me how to respect people and how to talk to people. It taught me integrity and wisdom. It taught me the love of God because you can’t do anything without the love of God. You have to trust in Him. It also taught me how to be a husband and a father.”
Using his childhood dream to achieve as a man, Harris put aside childish things once he got married and Lavette was born.
“When you have a wife, it’s just the two of you,” he noted. “But when you bring a child into this world, that child is everything. You have to support that child, nurture that child. You have to cloth that child. That child comes before you and your wife. You brought that child into the world and you’re responsible for that child.
“That made me realize how much of a man I needed to be and how much a man I could be because I brought a child into this world,” Harris added. “And she was a disable child and she needed me even more. The support of my military family, they knew of her illness. I didn’t want for anything. The medical attention for her, someone in the unit knew who to connect or knew how to get me certain things. That’s why I love my military family.”
With his family about to expand, Harris said he is ready to re-embrace some youthful ways when his first grandchild arrives in early 2022.
“I am very excited about this child,” he concluded. “We know it’s going to be a girl. My daughter has already given her a name and her middle name is going to be Lavatte. Her auntie’s first name. I am just excited about it and can’t wait. I am going to just spoil that child as much as I can. I am already going to let everybody knows it.”
