Harry, Jr. grew up as a typical Army Brat (his fathers words), following his soldier father, living in ten different states and in Germany and Vietnam. By the age of eleven he had flown completely around the world. At Fort Benning, Georgia he played quarterback on the championship Little League Football Team and earned his Eagle Scout Badge. He graduated from Fort Lauderdale High School in 1961 and from the University of Florida in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering. From 1967 to 1970 he served as a logistical staff officer in Zweibrucken, Germany, leaving the army as a captain. He returned to the University of Florida to do graduate work in Computer Science. From 1971 until 1980 he was project engineer for microwave automatic idenification devices with the Mobility Equipment Research and Development Department at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He was project engineer for physical security for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid, New York for which he received the Commander's Award. He transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1980 where he was Facility Program Manager, primarily responsible for the requirements of the Godard Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Source: The Family of Lt. John and Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis of Sandwich, Massachusetts, compiled by Colonel Harry H. Ellis, U. S. Army, Retired.