Harry Benjamin Emmel was born on April 19, 1880, in Dayton, Yamhill County, Oregon. He was the son of John Conrad Emmel and Margaretha H. Hoesly Emmel. He was married to Luella Lesher. He was a Methodist Episcopal minister joining the YMCA in July 1918. He served as a YMCA Secretary with AEF-Siberia during the U.S. intervention in Russia.

After brief assignments in Washington, Wisconsin, and Columbia University, he sailed for Siberia on December 30, 1918. He served in various locations within AEF-Siberia, expecting transfer to the Philippines in the Spring of 1920 to support the U.S. 31st and 27th Infantry Regiments. Weakened by harsh conditions, he contracted typhus and died on February 27, 1920, at a U.S. Army hospital in Vladivostok. He was buried in Churkin Russian Naval Cemetery, Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia, as quarantine regulations prevented immediate repatriation—his remains were never recovered.

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