Robert Lewis Howard was a native of Opelika, Alabama. When he was a child, his father, Charles, and an uncle were drafted into World War II, both becoming paratroopers with the famed 101st Airborne Division. Both were killed in action. His mother, Martha, worked in a textile mill as part of the war effort. Robert and his sister were raised by their grandmother during the War years.

In 1956, a month after graduating high school, then-17-year-old Robert enlisted in the Army. Over the next six years, he advanced through the ranks and also earned an associate degree in business from the University of Maryland in 1962.

His first deployment to Vietnam was in 1965 with his father’s former unit, the 101st, and he would go on to serve with the 5th Special Forces Group and Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group. Following a combat injury early in his first deployment, he was recruited to serve with Special Forces in an intel capacity. At the end of that deployment, he returned to Georgia for Special Forces training, earning his Ranger tab and eventually becoming a Green Beret.

Howard returned to Vietnam four more times with SF operations, assigned to the top-secret MACV-SOG, which operated across the border into Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam.

Amazingly, he would be nominated three times for the Medal of Honor over a 13-month period, and he was wounded 14 times over 54 months of combat.

His first nomination was downgraded to the second-highest award for Valor, the Distinguished Service Cross. His second and third nominations were for two separate actions in one battle on 30 December 1968. The third of those was downgraded to a Silver Star, the third-highest award for Valor.

As for the second…

On that fateful December mission, then-sergeant first class Howard was second in command of a platoon-sized Hatchet Force, a combined group of both American and Vietnamese soldiers, tasked with rescuing another team missing in enemy-controlled territory in Laos. Shortly after insertion by helicopter, he and his team were attacked by a much larger enemy force. He was wounded, and his M-16 was destroyed by a grenade explosion. “My hands were all blown up and burned,” he said, “and I couldn’t stand up.”

Seeing his platoon leader, 1LT James Jerson, who was seriously wounded in an area exposed to enemy fire, Howard crawled through a wall of gunfire to rescue Jerson. Once he reached him, he began dragging Jerson to safety when a bullet hit one of Howard’s ammo magazine pouches, detonating multiple rounds, which blew him away from his friend. He recovered and, with the help of another sergeant, was able to get his lieutenant back to the platoon, and then, ignoring his wounds, took charge of his men: “I said, ‘We’re going to establish a perimeter right here, and we’re going to fight or die.’”

They called in air support to suppress enemy fire through the night, and he and what was left of his platoon fought off several attacks until, at sunrise, they were able to scramble aboard an evac helicopter. Only six of the 37 platoon members survived the mission, and 1LT Jerson died on the flight out: “That hurt me worse than being shot up, seeing that lieutenant die.”

Learning he had been nominated for the Medal of Honor, he said, “In a way, I felt bad because I didn’t feel that I was worthy of the Medal of Honor for that action because I was not successful in doing what the colonel had directed me to do, and that was to find the team that had been surrounded and captured or killed by the enemy.”

In recognition of his service, in December 1969, Howard received a direct appointment from Master Sergeant to First Lieutenant, and was promoted to Captain in February 1971, the year he returned home from Vietnam.

On 2 March 171, he, his wife, Tina, and their two daughters were honored at a White House ceremony for the presentation of his Medal of Honor by President Richard Nixon.

According to his Medal of Honor citation:

Through his outstanding example of indomitable courage and bravery, Howard was able to rally the platoon into an organized defense force. With complete disregard for his safely, Howard crawled from position to position, administering first aid to the wounded, giving encouragement to the defenders and directing their fire on the encircling enemy. For 3 and one half hours Howard’s small force and supporting aircraft successfully repulsed enemy attacks and finally were in sufficient control to permit the landing of rescue helicopters. Howard personally supervised the loading of his men and did not leave the bullet-swept landing zone until all were aboard safely.

His citation concludes, “Howard’s gallantry in action, his complete devotion to the welfare of his men at the risk of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.”

In addition to the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, and Silver Star, Howard was awarded eight Purple Hearts for the 14 times he was wounded. He is one of only two men to earn both the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross in the Vietnam War. According to Army Special Operations Command, Robert Howard is the most decorated soldier to serve in Vietnam.

Howard said of receiving the Medal of Honor: “When I received that honor, I felt that I was sharing it with members of my family that had sacrificed their lives in the Second World War. I try to always maintain the dignity and the honor of having it bestowed upon me.”

You can watch him narrate his service here.

His Army career continued, with graduation from Ranger School class 7–73 in May 1973, at which time he served with 2nd Ranger Battalion at Fort Lewis, Washington. He became the officer-in-charge of Special Forces training at Camp Mackall, near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and later commanded the Mountain Ranger Training Camp at Dahlonega, Georgia. He also graduated from the National War College in 1988.

After 36 years of active duty, he retired in September 1992 as a Colonel and spent the next 14 years serving other Veterans with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Howard was inducted into both the Ranger Hall of Fame and the Army Aviation Association of America Hall of Fame before his death in 2009. He was survived by four children and five grandchildren, and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery in 2010.

In 2014, Howard received the United States Special Operations Command’s Bull Simons Award for his “lifetime achievements in Special Operations,” and he was later honored when the 5th Special Forces Group headquarters building at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was named Howard Hall in his honor.

His life was detailed in the 2024 book, Beyond the Call of Duty: The Life of Colonel Robert Howard, and a note of interest, he also had two small roles in John Wayne movies, first making a parachute jump in “The Longest Day” (1962) and as an airborne instructor in “The Green Berets” (1968).

COL Robert Howard: An ordinary man faced with extraordinary circumstances, he summoned the greatest measure of courage to place his life in imminent peril to save others. Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty — is eternal. Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.

“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of American Liberty, and for our nation’s Veterans, First Responders, and their families.

(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

Follow Mark Alexander on X/Twitter.

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