There will be 100th Birthday "Drive By" for WWII Veteran, Major David Van Vleet Howie, US Army (Retired). This will take place at the Rocky Mountain Assisted Living Facility, 7850 West 44th Avenue, Wheat Ridge, 80033. The event will begin at Noon, therefore, please plan to arrive at the Facility by 11:30AM.
Participants will include Service Members from Fort Carson and Buckley Space Force Base.
Major David Van Vleet Howie (USA, Retired) was drafted in 1942 and went through Basic Training and attended Officer Candidate School in 1943. He joined the 346th Field Artillery Battalion in the fall of 1943 and went overseas as a Second Lieutenant in 1944. He was promoted to First Lieutenant while serving 11 months in combat from June 1, 1944 to May 1, 1945 in Italy. He was an Artillery Forward Observer and in the front lines with the infantry constantly under fire and living in fox holes most of the time. He was also the Graves Registration Officer for the 346th FAB. The 346th was a 105 Millimeter Howitzer Unit, part of the 91st Division, which was part of General Mark Clark's Fifth Army. It entered Rome on June 4, 1944, the first Axis Capital to be liberated in WWII. He was engaged in the Rome-Arno Campaign, the North Appenine Campaign, the Po Valley Campaign and the Army of Occupation in Northern Italy during the summer of 1944. After almost four years of active duty, he was promoted to Captain and stayed in the Active Army Reserve for seventeen years, including two months of active duty in 1951, training thousands of troops for the Korean Conflict. His Summer Field Training was at Fort Bragg and Fort Drum, NY. Major Howie retired from the Army in 1962. In his civilian life, David Howie was a printing plant manager in New Jersey and a high school teacher in Florida before moving to Colorado with his wife (now deceased) and five children. He currently resides at Rocky Mountain Assisted Living in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. He will celebrate his 100th birthday on November 9, 2021.
Jim Herstein
303-518-8790
jwherst@aol.com
Please accept our sincere thanks for your service and sacrifice. When one joins the military, they become a member of a brotherhood. Less than one percent of the US population are currently serving in the military and only seven percent of the US population are either veterans or part of the active military. These heroic men and women are bonded forever.
Our defenders of freedom were compelled to serve for many honorable reasons. Some left their homes, families and friends and went halfway around the world. They were willing to sacrifice their lives so that we could all be free. How fortunate for all of us that while we rest and sleep some brave warrior risks it all so we can sleep in peace. It takes a special man or woman to sacrifice their comfort and safety for their country. We would not be living the way we do now if it weren't for brave men and women who serve and risk their lives for our freedom and safety. Freedom is a right ultimately defended by the sacrifice of America's servicemen and women. This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.
We, the members of the Colorado Patriot Guard, so greatly appreciate your Service and wish you a very Happy 100th Birthday.
CONGRATULATIONS AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY Major. Wishing you the very best in health and friends. Thank for your service and sacrifices to this great nation. Enjoy your day.
I plan to attend this hero's birthday. Your service is greatly appreciated and will not be forgotten.
Major Howie, thank you so much for your honorable service and sacrifices to our country. Happy 100th birthday.
Wishing you a most Happy 100th Birthday, Maj Howie! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your WWII service to our country! I am most grateful for my freedom!
Major Howie, sincere appreciation for your honorable Service and your Sacrifices during WWII. Wishing you a very happy 100th Birthday.
Congratulations.