Harry Appleton Julian was born on March 17, 1908, in New York. He was the son of Celestin Louis Emile and Joanna Agnes Egan Julian. He was married to Eleanor Annabel Carswell Julian. He graduated from Flemington High School in 1925, attended Rutgers University for summer courses, and taught for two years at a one-room school in Kingwood, New Jersey, before being appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1929 by Representative Charles Eaton. He graduated in 1933 and was commissioned in the Coast Artillery Corps. Julian served at Fort Monroe (VA), Fort Barrancas (FL), Fort Hancock (NJ), and twice at Corregidor, Philippines.

When World War II began, he was stationed on Corregidor with the 59th Coast Artillery (Seacoast), where he played a critical role in the island’s defense. He helped organize a Central Command Fire Control Spotting Post to direct artillery fire against the Japanese. Working alongside his West Point classmate Harry Schenck, Julian developed communication and triangulation procedures to coordinate defensive fire. After Bataan fell, Corregidor continued to resist for 27 more days despite overwhelming Japanese forces. When supplies ran out, the island surrendered on May 6, 1942, and Major Julian was captured and imprisoned first at Bilibid Prison in Manila, then at Cabanatuan. While a prisoner of war, he secretly gathered and recorded wartime information from other POWs, hiding his writings in a buried glass jar to avoid detection.

In October 1944, he was placed aboard the Arisan Maru, one of the Japanese “hell ships” transporting POWs to Japan. On October 24, 1944, the ship was torpedoed and sunk in the South China Sea, killing nearly all aboard. Julian was among those who perished.

Maj Julian's name is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph in the Arlington National Cemetery and Old Saint Raymond's Cemetery.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, alumni.westpointaog.org, weremember.abmc.gov