Percy Howard

Born: 1898

Died: 13 July 1918

Rank and Regiment: Private 330842 in the 12th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment (formerly 9851 of the Cambridgeshire Regiment)

Resting Place: Tourcoing (Pont-Neuville) Communal Cemetery, France - Grave AA.3

Memorials: Garvestone War Memorial

Percy Howard was born in Garvestone in about 1898, one of nine children of William and Julia Howard.

The 12th Suffolks were in the front line during the desperate Spring Offensive launched by the German army early in 1918, and large numbers of British troops were taken prisoner. The 11th Suffolks are recorded as suffering 500 casualties, killed wounded and missing, and the 12 Suffolks will have suffered in similar numbers.

Percy Howard died a prisoner of war on 13 July 1918. He is buried at Tourcoing (Pont-Neuville) Communal Cemetery (Grave AA.3), one of 68 prisoners of war to be buried there. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the inscription on his gravestone reads:

A LOVING HUSBAND A FATHER KIND A BEAUTIFUL MEMORY LEFT BEHIND

But Percy Howard was only 20 when he died, and his effects, amounting to a pitiful 1s 5d., were paid out to his brother William, not to a widow.

He is also commemorated in Garvestone Churchyard on the tombstone of his father, who had died in April 1918 –

“Also of Percy, the dearly loved youngest son of the above, who died in captivity whilst serving with the 12th Battn. Suffolk Regt”.

Tourcoing (Pont-Neuville) Communal Cemetery, France