WWII Vet Who Guarded President Franklin D. Roosevelt Dies In Ohio
MIDDLETOWN, OH — Denzil “Rusty” Howard was among about 16 million Americans who answered President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s call to service after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He enlisted in the Marines and would fight in the Pacific theater, where he watched a fellow Marine die next to him in a foxhole on the island of Bougainville, his own life was spared when a bullet ricocheted off his helmet. After his tour of duty ended, he would serve as part of a special guard detail for FDR.
One of fewer than 390,000 World War II veterans still living, Howard died April 6 at the age of 96 in Middletown, the same place he enlisted.
As was the case with many who fought in the war, Howard talked little about his experiences but opened up later in life. But it was always an emotional journey back in time for Howard and other members of the Greatest Generation.
“Sometimes,” Howard told the Journal-News last year as he caught a tear that had rolled down his cheek when he told of the deaths of his fellow Marines, “I get emotional when I talk about it.”
The campaign on Bougainville, one of the Solomon Islands east of Papua New Guinea, was ultimately successful, but a difficult memory for Howard.
“Things I saw you can’t print, I don’t think,” he said last year when speaking with a reporter from the Journal-News. “The things they did to our men. I saw a lot of my brothers killed.”
After the war ended, Howard helped guard FDR when he stayed at the “Little White House” in Warm Springs, Georgia, remaining part of that duty until the president died on April 12, 1945. President Harry S. Truman preferred to be guarded by Army soldiers, and Howard returned to Middleton and worked for Armco Steel until his retirement in 1986.
Howard reluctantly stepped into the spotlight last year at a ceremony held three days before Veterans Day at Crosspointe Church of Christ in Middleton.
“I’m more of a back person,” he told the Journal-News. “I don’t like being the front boy.”
But the tribute was touching, bringing him to tears.
“It was pretty tough on him,” Greg Howard, one of his two sons, told the newspaper.
Howard carried a Bible given to him by his late brother, the Rev. Henry Howard, who had served the Towne Boulevard Church of God. It would keep him safe, his brother said.
“I had some mighty close calls I don’t like to talk about,” Howard said.
But his country needed him, and Howard was proud to accept the call to duty.
“I’d do it again for my country,” he told the Journal-News.
He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Dolores; sons Gregory and Geoffrey; two grandsons; and three great grandchildren.
A memorial service is pending and will be held after the coronavirus crisis has passed, according to his obituary. Memorial contributions may be made to the Towne Boulevard Church of God, 3722 Towne Blvd., Middleton, OH 45005. The family is receiving condolences at bakerstevensparramore.com.
This article originally appeared on the Across Ohio Patch
