Recalling the Major of St. Lo, Tom Howie, a man of outstanding character
BY JIM COCHRUN
In the mid-50s, my little hometown of Naples, Fla., had a substandard school system. It was shortly after my father picked me up from school one day that my life would change forever. I was barefooted, possessed no schoolbooks and homework assignments were nonexistent. The decision to yank me out of the Naples school was swift and ruthless. At the tender age of 16, I was to be shipped off to a military academy. I soon found myself on the Atlantic Coast Line’s Orange Blossom Special headed north to Staunton, Va., located in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. My destination was the Staunton Military Academy, the same school my father had attended in the early 30s.
In Dad’s day, his favorite instructor at Staunton was Thomas Dry Howie. Howie was from the small South Carolina town of Abbeville. He graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., where he was a top scholar, class president, all-around athlete on the school’s football and baseball teams, and a Rhodes scholar selectee. Upon graduating he elected to go into teaching and his first job was at Staunton where he taught English and served as the head football coach.
When World War II broke out, Tom Howie, who was already in a local reserve unit, became the commander of the Third Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division. His unit went ashore at Omaha beach on D-Day. Major Howie’s battalion broke through the Martainville Line using only pistols, bayonets and hand grenades, as rifles were ineffective in the close quarters of the hedge rows. His unit was heading toward the pivotal town of Saint-Lo which was a vital transportation hub for the Germans, and Hitler had issued orders to defend it at all costs.
Major Howie called his commanding officer, General Charles Gerhardt, and told him that the Third would take the city and he would see him in Saint-Lo. Shortly after this call, a mortar exploded next to the major, killing him instantly. His men put his body on the hood of the lead jeep going into the town, as the unit wanted Howie to be the first American to enter Saint-Lo. His men then carried his body up to the top of a pile of rubble of the destroyed St. Croix Cathedral. This photograph of his flag-draped body atop the ruins of the bombed-out church became one of the iconic photographs of the war.
Seeing this photo, famed New York correspondent Drew Middleton dubbed Howie “The Major of Saint-Lo.” In a speech at a ceremony commemorating V-E Day, Andy Rooney, who had been a correspondent for the Army’s Stars and Stripes newspaper, mentioned only one military figure by name: Tom Howie. Rooney said, “More American soldiers were killed in capturing the town of Saint-Lo than were killed in taking the beaches. In case your history books don’t mention it, let me tell you what happened here July 18th, 1944, here in Saint-Lo. A major named Tom Howie was the leader of the battalion that actually captured Saint-Lo. At least he was the leader until he was killed just outside of town. I guess there never was an American soldier more honored by what his fellow soldiers who loved him did for him after he died.” There can be no doubt that Thomas Howie was a charismatic leader, a courageous soldier and a man of outstanding character.
Some years later, Major Howie’s account was prominently featured in Steven Ambrose’s 1997 book, “Citizen Soldier.” The following year, Mr. Ambrose served as a script consultant on Steven Spielberg’s movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” and he recounted that he used the Howie story as a model for the movie’s Tom Hanks character, John Miller, a small-town high school English teacher.
I am pleased that my father knew and was taught by Tom Howie, and that I had the honor of being appointed to the Staunton Military Academy precision drill team known as the Howie Rifles, which marched in the 1961 inauguration parade in Washington, D.C., for President John F. Kennedy.
