Harry was born on the 21st of September 1860, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Very little is written about his early life other than joining the US Army, via the 36th US Volunteer Infantry, from Minneapolis in 1899. In that same year, he was deployed with the regiment to the Philippines in support of the Spanish-American War and Harry was a Captain when he displayed actions during the Philippine-Insurrection that would earn him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:

Led a successful charge against a superior force, capturing, and dispersing the enemy and relieving other members of his regiment from a perilous position.

Harry received the Medal of Honor on the 8th of March 1902, and married Kate in August of 1904. The couple moved to Kansas with their first son in 1906 and they had two more sons while living at Fort Leavenworth, where Harry was a Master Signal Electrician for the Army Service School. He left the Army on the 7th of July 1915, but the family remained on base while he worked as a chief clerk at the Fort Leavenworth Prison.

Harry and Kate apparently separated and declared each other deceased on the 1930 census, even though they were both very much alive. Harry was living in Ohio and working as a civil service clerk until his death on the 6th of November 1938, at the age of 78. Harry Bell is buried in the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery: Section A-Off, Site 167. Even though they had been separated, Kate is buried with him.