SOUTH PARIS – Harry W. Archer of 48 Western Ave., South Paris, died Thursday, Dec. 23, of natural causes.

He was born in Kansas City, Mo., on Oct. 7, 1918. He graduated from Vanderbilt University and was a reserve midshipman at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

During World War II, he served as an engineering officer on the battleship USS Arkansas (BB33) in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and later on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV13) in action in the Western Pacific during 1944 and 1945. He was a veteran of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and was wounded in action off Japan in March, 1945. He met his future wife, a USNR nurse, Lt. Grace A. Thorne, while being treated at Brooklyn Naval Hospital.

After the war, Mr. Archer lived with his wife, Grace, and four children in New Britain, Conn. He was with General Electric Co. as a design engineer, before retiring in 1979 to the village of Bryant Pond in Woodstock.

Mr. Archer was a member of Tri-Town Rescue of West Paris, Tri-Town Search and Rescue, and Woodstock Fire Department.

He remained in correspondence with fellow shipmates of the USS Franklin through the end of his life.

He will be greatly missed by his family, friends, fellow volunteers, and comrades.

He was predeceased by his wife, Grace Thorne Archer, on Nov. 6, 2001.

Surviving family members are a son, Gregory T. Archer; a daughter, Patricia A. Lovejoy son-in-law, Michael A. Lovejoy, and grandson, William T. Lovejoy, all of South Paris; a son, Kenneth B. Archer, and daughter-in-law, Christina R. Archer, of Glastonbury, Conn.; a daughter, Margaret J. Herbert, son-in-law, Harry J. Herbert, and granddaughters, Catherine and Julia Herbert, all of Sydney, Australia.