World War II vet turns 100
Bill Howard turns 100 years old today, but 80 years ago he was taking part in the greatest conflict the world had ever known. Howard was stationed in Europe during World War II and was under the command of General George S. Patton.
Howard was born in Hampton, Arkansas. His family were no strangers to military service, as his father served in World War I.
After graduating high school, Howard shipped out with roughly a dozen classmates to Camp Robinson in Little Rock.
Shortly thereafter, he was stationed in Europe near the front lines with General Patton, who regular moved the command post.
Howard recalled, “So we were jumping almost every two or three days. We’re moving to get closer to the front lines.
On the Normandy hedgerows on the fifth night, I crawled in my pup tent. And at 10 o’clock that night. The sunlight! Man, it was as bright as day. At night, small German planes would come over looking for ammo dumps. Anyway, we all jumped out and gathered and Colonel Sears had gathered with us and told us it ‘Don’t worry. They’re better looking for an ammo dumps.
There were enough tents in the Army headquarters that they (the Germans) had to test it to make sure it wasn’t an ammo dump. They dropped [an] 150 pounder and of all things, it hit the chaplain’s timber, but he wasn’t there.”
Colonel Sears told the assembled soldiers that an ammo dump was located about a mile and a half southeast of the camp.
“And sure enough, in about three minutes they found it. Ammo exploded for three weeks. They stacked ammo in piles., but one pile would ignite another pile and another pile and it just kept going on.”
Howard recalls that General Patton would often request more fuel for the tanks under his command, a request that was summarily rejected every time.
Patton, he said, would raise hell for fuel. ‘Give me fuel and we won’t need the Lymies as we won’t need the French. We won’t need the Soviets. I’ll win this damn war and we’ll go home’. He was honest about it, he would have done it.”
During the Battle of the Bulge, Howard was quartered in Luxembourg during the German offensive and once again found himself in peril.
“We were quartered in the nicest hotel in Luxembourg city and I picked a suite on the eighth floor, and the second day the Germans started flying the buzz bombs over. They had no targets or anything. They just hit anywhere that would go down, but when that happened I moved to the basement,” Howard laughed.
When the war ended, Howard stayed in Europe to help with rebuilding. He purchased a ‘47 Chevrolet that was being manufactured in Munich, Germany and used the automobile to see the sights.
“With a new automobile, you can travel all over Europe in a weekend,” he explained, “You can spend the weekend in Paris. You can spend the weekend in Vienna or a weekend in Rome, you know. Especially over there with the Autobahns, you know, no speed limits involved.”
Howard came back to Arkansas after meeting his wife Cacilia in Germany and attended the University of Arkansas. He then graduated with an accounting degree and went to work for Lion Oil in El Dorado.
He spent many years hunting, fishing and traveling to areas where he could deep sea dive.
“We fished and hunted in the winter. We loved to deer hunt. We loved to duck hunt, and I would say — not because of my expertise in the activity — but I probably caught more bass, killed more ducks and killed more deer than anybody in the state of Arkansas. Because I was able to hunt. many years and fish many years.”
When asked about the secret to his longevity, Howard credits exercise, which he still does daily at Champagnolle Landing.
He said, “I do 30 minutes on the treadmill.. I do 200 reps on a leg thrust. I do 200 reps on a leg curl.. I do 200 reps on the leg squeeze. And I do as many as 300 reps on a leg push machine.”