Private William "Willie" Sears Harris of Woodbine, Whitley County, died of injuries at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Covington on May 26, 1917 after being struck by a train on 23 May near Falmouth while on state active duty. Harris served with Company A, 2nd Kentucky Infantry based in London.  Harris had extensive injuries with severe damage to both legs. Newspaper accounts speak of his legs being crushed.

Harris enlisted in Company A of the 2nd Kentucky on 17 Jun 1916. A handwritten notation on his records show he was honorably discharged on July 24, 1916 due to a surgeons certificate of disability. The Kentucky National Guard was called to federal active duty to patrol a sixty mile stretch of the border between Fort Bliss and Fort Hancock Texas during the Mexican Expedition or Punitive Expedition from June 1916 to February 1917.

Harris reenlisted in the unit on 21 April 1917 after the unit was released from federal active duty and reverted back to state control. Harris was born on Nov 28 1897 in Woodbine, Whitley County and listed his Occupation as a farmer on his enlistment papers.

Many of the Kentucky Guard were on state duty after the border in order to guard key transportation points around the Commonwealth. Harris unit was called to duty on 3 April 1917 and stationed at Falmouth and placed under orders of the Pendleton County judge. His unit's guard sector included all points on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad lines in Pendleton County, beginning with the Bank Lick Bridge, the city of Falmouth, the two Grant Tunnels, the Cruiser Creek Bridge, and the Licking River Bridge at Falmouth. Sentry posts at these points were established and maintained.

Harris is buried in the Perkins Cemetery in Woodbine, Whitley County, Kentucky.