SSGT Guy S Howard

[Neil Albaugh]

 

 

My first wife, Ella, after graduating high school, visited every branch of service recruiting office in her little town of Owosso, MI. She and her friend decided the Navy had the most attractive uniforms so they both enlisted in the US Navy. After boot camp at Great Lakes Training Center, she was posted to the Bureau of Yards & Docks, near Ft Meyer just outside Washington, DC.

While in the Ft Meyer snack bar for lunch, she and her friend sat at a small table. After a while, a young soldier carrying a tray approached and asked if he could share their table. Ella, having a quick wit and a cynical sense of humor, looked this fellow up and down, noticed his chest full of ribbons and decorations. "Well", she snapped "It looks like someone has been shopping at the PX!"

Long story short- this young soldier was Guy Howard and he had earned every one of those medals- a Purple Heart with SEVEN oak leaf clusters, a Silver Star, a Soldier's Medal and a Bronze Star with an oak leaf cluster. Believe it or not they ended up getting married!

Guy's obituary was even published in the Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/04/04/guy-howard-first-sergeant-had-purple-heart-7-clusters/7bdd50c6-fc4f-4594-affe-928772450c1f/

I knew Guy Howard after he had retired and remarried; he was a unique man. In the Korean War he was with the Army 31st Regimental Combat Team on the north side of the Chosin Reservoir and later his career spanned many assignments, including a stint at the Language School in Monterrey, CA where he learned Serbo-Croatian. In Beirut he was an Embassy Military Attache and knew the notorious Soviet spy Kim Philby. An altogether fascinating man.