BIOGRAPHIES: Fred Winfield HOWARD, Chetek, Barron County, WI

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:  
Vic Gulickson <vic@indy.net>  8 April 2002	
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Fred  Winfield  Howard,  one  of  his  country's heroes, made the supreme
sacrifice,  and gave his life on his nation's altar in order that the world
might  be  the better. His few years were years of sunshine and brightness,
he  died in a great cause, and the world is the better for his having lived
in it. He was born in Chetek, Jan. 14, 1896, the son of Walter Winfield and
Abbie  Aikens Howard, and descended from Revolutionary and Civil War stock.
He  was  educated in the public schools, and grew up a bright, affectionate
and  obedient  boy.  He  developed into an exemplary young man, and had but
just  attained his majority when with a number of companions he enlisted in
the  United  States  service May 1, 1917. He was sent to Camp Douglas, this
state,  and  mustered into Co. F, 128th Infantry, 32nd Division. On Sept. 4
his  company  was  sent  to  Waco,  Texas,  where  they underwent intensive
training,  and  were  then sent to Camp Merrit for overseas equipment. They
sailed  for France Feb. 6, 1918. Upon reaching France he was transferred to
Co.  F,  28th Infantry, First Division. This was a company of United States
regulars.  He was immediately thrown into action with his company. He was a
good  soldier  and  a brave fighter. He was killed at Cantigny, France, May
15,  1918, just three days after he wrote his last letter home. He was laid
to  rest  in  the  United States cemetery, Bonvillers, Vico, France. In the
spring of 1921, his body was brought to the United States, and on April 13,
he  was  laid  to rest in the cemetery at Chetek amid the scenes which as a
boy  he  had  loved  so  well.  At that time it was said: "Fred Howard died
fighting  in  the  biggest  and most terrible war that is known to history.
Just  a boy, yet he saw what his duty was, and unflinchingly he volunteered
his  all.  It  is  such  boys  that keep up the traditions of this glorious
country, and it makes the world a better place to live in knowing that such
men  like him have died for it. At the funeral the great crowd stood at the
grave-side,  and  as the salute was fired and the taps sounded, tears could
be  seen on hundreds of faces. Fred Howard is laid away but his memory will
always remain with us."

--Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr., & Co.,
1922, pg. 946.