Zion Baptist Church Congregation Visits

On Sunday, August 26 after morning fellowship at Zion Baptist Church near King & Queen Court House over 36 members of the congregation led by Pastor Edgar T. Rawles, Minister Vera Ship, Minister Kimberly Holmes, Minister Trey Rawles, and Minister Jerone Davis toured the Museum and its campus. They found many exhibits of interest including the facade of the old Stevensville Post Office which some of them remembered, the military artifacts of family members, and pictures of schools and students. The children were excited about the fossil exhibit and the schoolhouse.

Alice Harris of King & Queen Court House, and a member of the Zion congregation, mentioned that she had a newspaper photograph of her mother pointing to Alice’s brother Lenwood’s name on a plaque somewhere at the courthouse, and a few moments later she stood in front of the plaque herself, touching her brother’s name. Lenwood Harris, son of Henry and Fannie Harris, and Alice’s oldest brother, was a casualty of World War II. He died, “killed instantly by an enemy shell,” on board a ship in the Western Pacific in June 1945, at the age of 19.

Alice generously offered to share digital scans with the Historical Society of her mother’s archive containing a photograph and correspondence connected to Lenwood’s service. A photograph was taken of his medals: The Purple Heart, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with Bronze Star, World War II Victory Medal, President’s Unit Citation Ribbon, Combat Action Ribbon, and Gold Star Lapel Button. A letter of condolence, written June 22, 1945, by a shipmate, describes the entire ship’s fondness for Lenwood, “the first Negro ever to be stationed aboard this particular ship. He had a beautiful singing voice, the crew of this little ship would always gather around him to hear his singing, an original style which was unrivaled by anyone aboard. A few weeks later the crew knew him well by his first and his last name. They knew and felt that he was almost as essential to this ship and its crew as its engine, so the crew held a little meeting, took up a collection, and to Linwood’s complete surprise they bought and presented him a guitar.”

Lenwood’s letters home are particularly precious to Alice, who was a toddler when her brother died. He asks “What is little Alice doing? I bet she can walk now…” One postcard he sent while in training camp is printed with his Thanksgiving dinner menu. Several years after Lenwood’s death the Harris family home in King & Queen burned with everything inside it except Mrs. Harris’ bag of important papers, which included these letters from Lenwood. Sadly his medals burned with the house, but Mrs. Harris obtained replacements from the Department of the Navy in 2007.