![Picture](/uploads/3/1/3/0/31308715/7010943.jpg?211)
Full Name: Howard H. Goodrich
Spouse: Nina Mae Goodrich
Children: Howard Joe Goodrich, Bonnie Lynn Tew, Larry Dee Goodrich
Branch of Service: U.S. Army
Time Served: 1942-1945
Training: Basic Training—Texas, Advanced Infantry—England
Where Served: England, France, Czechoslovakia, and Germany
Deceased: Yes, 1960
Where Living When Entered Service: Bluebell, Utah
Drafted or Volunteer: Volunteered
Spouse: Nina Mae Goodrich
Children: Howard Joe Goodrich, Bonnie Lynn Tew, Larry Dee Goodrich
Branch of Service: U.S. Army
Time Served: 1942-1945
Training: Basic Training—Texas, Advanced Infantry—England
Where Served: England, France, Czechoslovakia, and Germany
Deceased: Yes, 1960
Where Living When Entered Service: Bluebell, Utah
Drafted or Volunteer: Volunteered
![Picture](/uploads/3/1/3/0/31308715/5541742.jpg?211)
Howard’s expectation to return home for a short visit following his basic training didn’t materialize. He was immediately sent to England, where he was assigned the job of loading airplanes with bombs and munitions. He also served as a truck driver in the not so busy of times. He was a very patriotic individual and a dedicated soldier. Howard loved England and serving there. He and a few others from his division decided that they would be doing more for the war effort if they were actually carrying the guns and facing the enemy. They all joined together, believing that they would stay with each other. The army thought differently.
Soon after volunteering, he and his airborne friends were reassigned for their infantry training. The training was short lived and he found himself on the front lines as part of the Battle of the Bulge, as did his volunteering buddies. They were all split up and he never saw any of them again. Howard laughed once that he never really learned the value of the old military adage to never volunteer. He went from the relative safety of handling bombs to the front line as a fighting man.
As the war ended on the European front and Howard returned home for the first time in over three years, it just so happened that Boyd (Howard’s youngest brother) was on leave between his basic training and his first navy assignment. Following is Boyd’s remembrance of that visit. “The thing that I remember when Howard returned home on leave after the war, when both of us were there for about a week prior to Howard’s discharge, was his telling of one of his fighting experiences to the family. Howard was a quiet man and seldom spoke of those memories after this one time. My mother listened, a tear running down her cheeks, as he told of the time his patrol was proceeding in their advancement through the German cities and how they were flanked and overrun by the enemy. All he and two others from his patrol could do was lie down and play dead. As they were lying there along the roadway, the Germans would come along and stab some of the dead men in the back with a bayonet, making sure that they were dead. Howard said what a terrible experience to just lie there expecting any minute to be stabbed as the enemy marched past him. I will never forget the feelings of his telling of that experience and though he seldom spoke of it, I know the lasting memory stayed with him always. Can you imagine just lying there, not being able to move for fear of being detected. Howard felt like someone was looking out for him, because he was not killed then or in other similar experiences; he must, therefore, have had more to do in life. I still remember how difficult his experience was and how bad my mother felt, but also how proud he was to have served his country at that time and in that manner.
Soon after volunteering, he and his airborne friends were reassigned for their infantry training. The training was short lived and he found himself on the front lines as part of the Battle of the Bulge, as did his volunteering buddies. They were all split up and he never saw any of them again. Howard laughed once that he never really learned the value of the old military adage to never volunteer. He went from the relative safety of handling bombs to the front line as a fighting man.
As the war ended on the European front and Howard returned home for the first time in over three years, it just so happened that Boyd (Howard’s youngest brother) was on leave between his basic training and his first navy assignment. Following is Boyd’s remembrance of that visit. “The thing that I remember when Howard returned home on leave after the war, when both of us were there for about a week prior to Howard’s discharge, was his telling of one of his fighting experiences to the family. Howard was a quiet man and seldom spoke of those memories after this one time. My mother listened, a tear running down her cheeks, as he told of the time his patrol was proceeding in their advancement through the German cities and how they were flanked and overrun by the enemy. All he and two others from his patrol could do was lie down and play dead. As they were lying there along the roadway, the Germans would come along and stab some of the dead men in the back with a bayonet, making sure that they were dead. Howard said what a terrible experience to just lie there expecting any minute to be stabbed as the enemy marched past him. I will never forget the feelings of his telling of that experience and though he seldom spoke of it, I know the lasting memory stayed with him always. Can you imagine just lying there, not being able to move for fear of being detected. Howard felt like someone was looking out for him, because he was not killed then or in other similar experiences; he must, therefore, have had more to do in life. I still remember how difficult his experience was and how bad my mother felt, but also how proud he was to have served his country at that time and in that manner.