Robert E. “Bobby” Howard was born Dec. 19, 1923 to LaVerne Ryan and Bernice N. Zigler Howard. He died Apr. 16, 1945 and is buried in Sunset View Cemetery, Moulton, IA.
Sgt. Howard served with the U.S. Army Air Corps 450th Bomber Squadron, 322nd Bomb Group, Medium, 9th Air Force in World War II. He was an engineer/gunner on a Martin B-26B Marauder which was shot down near Wittenburg, Germany. He and four other crew members were officially declared deceased but their remains were never recovered.* He was awarded the Purple Heart and Air Medal.
*In 2014 JPAC’s Research and Analysis Group concluded a historical association drawn from Missing Air Crew Report #14463 and artifacts and human remains recovered at the excavation site close to the possible aircraft crash site. Mitochondrial DNA testing positively identified part of the remains as belonging to Robert. When an individual’s remains have been accounted for by the U.S. Dept. of Defense, a rosette is placed next to the name on the Wall/Tablet/Court of the Missing to mark that the person now rests in a known gravesite.
***A memorial service was conducted in 2014 at Sunset View Cemetery in Moulton with full military honors and included a flyover by the U.S. Air Force.***
Sgt. Howard is also memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing, Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands.
His Air Medal includes 7 Oak Leaf Clusters.
Source: ancestry.com; abmc.gov
