No, not that Harry Potter. This Harry Potter, of Birmingham, England, served in the British Army and was stationed in Israel, where he was killed, at the age of 18, on July 22, 1939, during an ambush by anti-colonial Arab rebels. Despite not being the fictional hero of J. K. Rowling’s enormously successful novels, Potter’s grave in the Commonwealth Cemetery in Ramla has become quite the tourist attraction, thanks in part to the local tourist board’s promotion of it.

 

The cemetery, which contains the remains of 4,500 British soldiers killed during the two World Wars and the period in between, is located in an industrial zone and can be visited six days a week.

 

Potter’s last letter to his parents, which arrived the day after they learned of his death, began, “Dear Mother, I am getting on alright. I expect to be home for Christmas. If I am not, it is a bit of bad luck.”

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Grave of Real-Life British Soldier Harry Potter Killed 71 Years Ago Becomes an Official Tourist Attraction in Israel (Daily Mail)

Harry Potter’s Grave Draws Tourists to Small Israeli Town (by Tia Goldberg, Associated Press)