Signalman Second Class Gerald Thomas Howard, United States Naval Reserve. Service Number: 6204255

Early Life

Gerald Thomas Howard was born in 9 April 1914 in Sioux City, Iowa. His father Ira Riley Howard, born 21 January 1884 in Orchard, Nebraska, died July 1969 in Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa was a Livestock Truck Driver. His mother Mary Boyle was born in 1881 in Freeland, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania and died in 1950. Gerald's parents were married on 4 March 1908 in Burwell, Nebraska. Gerald was the fourth of seven children and only son in the family; he had three older sisters and three younger sisters.

Military

Gerald Thomas Howard registered for the Draft on 16 October 1940 in South Sioux City, Dakota County, Nebraska and enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve in January 1942. After boot camp and additional follow-on training, he saw action in both the Pacific and European theaters of operation. At the time of his death, he was assigned to LCF 31.

Landing craft (LC’s) are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Production of landing craft peaked during World War II, with a significant number of different designs produced in large quantities by the United Kingdom and United States.

Because of the need to run up onto a suitable beach, World War II landing craft were flat-bottomed, and many designs had a flat front, often with a lowerable ramp, rather than a normal bow. This made them difficult to control and very uncomfortable in rough seas. The control point (too rudimentary to call a bridge on LCA and similar craft) was normally at the extreme rear of the vessel, as were the engines. In all cases, they were known by an abbreviation derived from the official name rather than by the full title.

The Landing Craft Flak (LCF) variation of the LC was a conversion of the Landing Craft Tank (LCT) that was intended to give anti-aircraft support to the landing. They were first used in the Dieppe Raid early in 1942. The ramp was welded shut, and a deck built on top of the Tank deck. They were equipped with several light anti-aircraft guns—a typical fitting was eight 20 mm Oerlikons and four QF 2 pdr "pom-poms" and had a crew of 60. On British examples, the operation of the craft was the responsibility of RN crew and the guns were manned by Royal Marines. They carried two naval officers and two marine officers.

Death and Burial

Gerald Thomas Howard was Killed in Action on 6 June 1944 at sea off the coast of Normandy, France during the D-Day invasion. His boat LCF-31 was sunk by enemy fire and only 18 of 72 crew members survived. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. He was buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France, Plot: I, Row: 18, Grave: 4.

Sources

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56645790/gerald-thomas-howard

https://www.fold3.com/page/529910073/gerald-t-howard

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=32155

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78634318/norfolk-daily-news/

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2238/images/44022_06_00003-03840?pId=17075349

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/57980115/person/40247161220/facts

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9170/images/42861_1521003239_0889-01835?pId=33237

https://www.northernexpress.com/news/feature/lucky-larry-lampton-75-years-after-d-day/

This story was written by Robert J. “Red” Mulvanny, U.S. Navy (Retired) and is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story. If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author. Click on the author’s name located at the bottom of the story page next to the words “added by.”"