Walter B. Howard II
Specialist, United States Army
February 12, 1970 – February 2, 2006
Age – 35
Clinton Township, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, CO
Died of wounds received when an improvised explosive device detonated near his M1 Abrams tank in Ashraf, Iraq
Cpl. Walter B. Howard II, of Rochester, Mich., grew up in Macomb County’s Clinton Township. His father served in both the Navy and Army, so it made sense that Walter would follow in his bootsteps. He loved his country and believed in what he was doing. He worked as a newspaper carrier in junior high and at a Farmer Jack grocery store in high school. In the Navy, he was a gunner’s mate, serving on the USS Coral Sea, part of a long line of military men, including his father, Walter B. Howard.
He attended Macomb County Community College after leaving the Navy, taking classes in computers and was a class shy of graduating. He returned to civilian life and became an automotive designer in suburban Detroit, contracting his services out to the Big Three automakers. He loved his daughter and used to rock her to sleep every night before bed.
He died in Balad, Iraq of injuries suffered when a makeshift bomb exploded near his M1 Abrams tank in Ashraf, north of Baghdad at age 35. His awards include the Purple Heart, Bronze Star medal and Combat Action patch. He was buried with military honors in Macomb Township, Michigan.
He was remembered by the following words –
One day until the two anniversary of your death and I seem to not be able to get over you being gone. It still seems inconceivable that a world can exist without you. I was looking forward to growing up with you, but the life of being an adult brought with it the inevitable separation that it’s complexities always bring. We weren’t able to see each other as much I would have wanted because of our mutual obligations to living our lives. I freely admit that I took for granted that we’d always be there for each other. But your life was cut short in the blink of an eye and I’ve never been the same since, not withstanding my own experiences in Kirkuk and Balad.
Last year, I was 5 miles from where you were killed. Last year it tore me up being so close to the place of your demise. Today, being so far away from Ashraf and Balad and at home doesn’t provide the salve for the wound left from your death.
I miss you so much and the tears in my heart are non-stop. I wish I could just have one good cry and be done, but the mourning is continuous in nature because you were more than my cousin, you were my older brother. You will always be at the right side of me; your presence abides with me always.
Until we meet again…”
Rob Barner of Clinton Township, MI