THE WALL OF FACES

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

Dear SFC Samuel Howard, Thank you for your service as a Heavy Construction Equipment Operator. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

NEWTOWN — Sgt. Samuel H. Howard, age 41, of Newtown, died Friday, Dec. 1, at the 249th General Hospital at Camp Drake, Japan, where he had been a medical patient three weeks. Death was attributed to a cerebral hemorrhage. Born in Crawfordsville, he was the son of Dr. Chester W. and LaVera Shultz Howard. He graduated from Newtown High School in 1944. Sgt. Howard was married Dec. 27, 1949 to Gloria Gray, who survives. Other survivors include: one son, Gregg, and one daughter, Cheryl, both at home; his mother, Mrs. C. W. Howard of Newtown; one sister, Mrs. Kenneth Dooley of Lebanon; four brothers, William S. Howard of Newtown, Warren Howard of Lafayette, Max Howard of Washington, D.C., and John Howard of Kansas. Sgt. Howard entered the Army shortly after he graduated from high school and he had served in Greenland, Korea, France, Columbia and Ecuador, S.A. and Panama. He volunteered for duty in Vietnam while stationed in Panama and was sent there in August of this year. He contracted malaria and after being hospitalized in Vietnam, was transferred to Japan. [Source: obituary in a scrapbook from a collection of Fauniel Hershberger's typed by Walt W. dated 1967. Courtesy of Beth Bassett (November 2018)]

SFC Samuel H. Howard was a Heavy Construction Equipment Operator serving with Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC), 86th Engineer Battalion. On November 22, 1967, SFC Howard was stricken by illness and hospitalized. He died on December 2, 1967, from a reported brain aneurysm. He was 41 years-old. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org]

Thank you Sergeant First Class Howard for your devotion, leadership and courage.