Howard Dearwester

ASN:35450195

Howard F. Dearwester registered for the draft on October 16, 1940 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Born January 31, 1914, he was 5-5, 130 pounds with a light brown complexion, blue eyes and black hair. At the time he was employed at Yellow Cab in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Enlisted in the Army on March 31, 1942, PVT Dearwester received his training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and later assigned to A-Battery, 319th Field Artillery Group, 82nd Airborne Division.  

Along with fellow Glidermen of the 319th, PVT Dearwester sailed to North Africa on the SS Santa Rosa arriving in May,1943. He fought in seven (7) battles and campaigns; Sicilian, Naples-Foggia, Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe.  

Company Morning Reports were produced every morning by the individual Army units to record personnel matters. The following events were reported:  March 9, 1944, PVT Dearwester from duty to 5 day furlough at 0600 hours, returning to duty March 14th at 2200 hours. (see below)

Company Morning Reports

June 15, 1944, PVT Dearwester is listed as slightly wounded in action on the 6th of June 1944. (see below) Wounded in the face and shoulder during the glider landings near Sainte-Mère-Église, he was evacuated to the unit’s base camp with 15 other enlisted men and officers. PVT Dearwester returned to duty before the battalion returned from Normandy.

July 17, 1944, PVT Dearwester from duty to 5 day furlough to Manchester, England at 0600 hours. According to the Morning Report of July 23, 1944 he returned from furlough to active duty on the 22nd of July at 2200 hours.  

PVT Dearwester and A-Battery glider men, 1944-45. Photos below courtesy of Charlotte Sartain Provenza and Joseph Covais, author of BATTERY.

PVT Dearwester also appeared in the A-Battery group photo taken June 20, 1945, in Epinal, France.

The Adjusted Service Rating Score (ASR) was a system the US. Army used at the end of the war to determine when soldiers were eligible for discharge. PVT Dearwester was one of many “High Point” soldiers with a score over 85 points who returned to the USA arriving in Boston, Massachusetts on September 14, 1945. He was discharged from the service on September 21, 1945.

PVT Howard F. Dearwester was awarded 6 Bronze Battle Stars, Bronze Arrowhead, Good Conduct Medal, the Belgian Fourragere, Presidential Unit Citation Badge, Victory Ribbon, the European-African-Middle Eastern Theatre Ribbon, and the Purple Heart.

Following his separation from the service he returned to his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio and employment with the Yellow Cab Company.

Howard F. Dearwester, 38, died February 18, 1952.

God Bless this hero.