Vets Contest Man’s Claimed ‘Black Hawk Down’ Exploits

A Kinston, N.C., man who told The Free Press for a story published Sunday that he served as an Army Ranger and took part in an infamous battle in Mogadishu, Somalia, was not a participant in that fight and was not a Ranger, according to former Rangers who were there.

Jeff "Rock" Harris, who was featured in a story that ran with the headline "Kinston resident recalls extraordinary experiences that led to 'Black Hawk Down,' " is apparently not listed on the official manifest of Soldiers with the 75th Ranger Regiment in Mogadishu at the time of that October 1993 fight nor is the name Michael J. Harris, the name that appears on documents Harris showed a Free Press reporter last week.

"There is no Michael Jeff Harris, not in the 75th Ranger Regiment," said Mark Bowden, author of the non-fiction book "Black Hawk Down," who checked the manifest for The Free Press on Tuesday.

Raleigh Cash, who served in Mogadishu, and Matt Eversmann, the Ranger who was a central figure in both Bowden's book and the movie that followed, both told The Free Press they had "never heard" of Harris. The pair worked together to author "Battle of Mogadishu," another account of the Somalian conflict.

Harris said he was a member of the 3rd Ranger Battalion, the 75th Ranger Regiment. Cash said Harris was not assigned to the 3rd Ranger Battalion from 1990 to 2002, when Cash was.

In his interview last week with The Free Press, Harris showed a reporter what he claimed was his DD214 Form, which is his record of military service, as well as an Army Ranger Certification and certificates indicating Harris was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.

A public affairs officer for the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Ga., where Harris said he served, said she could not provide information on individuals who may have served there. The Free Press has filed a Freedom of Information request seeking Harris' service record.

"Based on the information we now have, it appears that in attempting to publish a story highlighting the bravery of an American fighting man on the Fourth of July weekend, The Free Press instead became the victim of a pretty elaborate lie," Patrick Holmes, editor and publisher of The Free Press, said. "We owe our readers an apology and the promise that, as a news organization, we will be more vigilant in our fact-checking."

A supervisor at Down East Protection Services said he reviewed Harris' DD214 before he was hired and did not suspect it could have been false.

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