 |
| Captain Howard Goodman fought at the Battle of Cape Glocester. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/151738550/howard-kenneth-goodman http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/the-battle-of-cape-gloucester-bogged-down-by-muck-and-mire/ |
Howard Kenneth Goodman never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on March 7, 1918 in New Jersey. His parents Sam and Rose were born in Hungry and spoke Hebrew. His father worked as a cigar factory superintendent and later as a real estate broker. Howard had two older sisters. By 1940 Howard had graduated from City College of New York and was attending law school at Columbia University.
He enlisted in the Marines on July 3, 1941 and was sworn into the bar shortly thereafter. He rose to the rank of Captain in Company M, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
He was awarded the Silver Star in May 1943 for distinguished service on Guadalcanal where he led three successive bayonet and hand grenade charges against Japanese machine guns and mortars on November 3, 1942. Even though he was Jewish, he was called Barney O'Goodman because he could sing more Irish songs than any man in the 5th Marines. And although he was a captain, he insisted on being the bugler for his company.
Captain Goodman's final campaign was the Battle of Cape Gloucester in New Britain. The Marines landed the day after Christmas 1943. Captain Goodman's unit captured the airfield on December 29. Captain Goodman was killed on January 7, 1944 as the Marines captured the high ground known as Hill 660. The battle ended nine days later and cost the lives of 310 Marines.
His grave is at New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, New York.
Last year on this date I profiled Rush White, killed when his ship was sunk by a German U-boat. You can read about Rush here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
Thank you for your service. You'll never be forgotten.
ReplyDelete