I didn't recognize the name "Robert'' Howard but recognized his picture and knew him as Bob Howard. He and I were classmates at the Command and General Staff College, Ft Leavenworth, KS in 1979-1980. Never heard anything negative about him. I had the opportunty to serve with four Medal of Honor recipients during my time in the Army. One of them, Hal Fritz and I had our promotion to captain celebration party together. I was assigned to the Infantry School as a Leaderhip Instructor after returning from Viet Nam in '69 and there were so many Infantrymen there who had done heroic things in combat that it was accepted more or less as common practice of being a soldier. At one time on the Leadership Committee we had two MOH recipients, four Distinquished Service Crosses (one fellow had two) and numerous Silver Star awardees. Y'all may have seen the movie with Mel Gibson about the Idrang Valley. There were number of NCOs on the committee who were there. Later on when I went back to the Infantry School as a chief of one of the branches in the Infantry School, the sergeant, Savage, who was prominent in the movie as the NCO whose unit was isolated worked for me. He was awarded the DSC for his action there. The Charlie company commander of the isolated company which was cut off, Edwards, was my boss. I saw him in the shower at the gym one day and he had holes all in his back from wounds he got there. I never knew he was in the Idrang until I saw him protrayed and interviewed in Gibson's movie. That's the type of heroes Howard and many others were and are. Unfortunately, the last picture I saw of Bob Howard awhile before he died and the years had really taken a toll on him.
