Tec5 Howard Raymond Vincent (WWII)

Remembering Tec5 Howard Raymond Vincent
July 15, 1912- April 10, 1945

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Tec5 Howard Raymond Vincent (service number 35739911) was born July 15, 1912, in Fairmont, West Virginia, the son of Andrew and Laura (Rudy) Vincent. He attended Quiet Dell School, but according to his enlistment records did not attend high school. 

In 1920, Andrew (who went by his middle name, Merrick) was working as a truck driver while the family resided at 640 Clay Street, near the current Gateway Connector. By 1930, the family was running a "general farm" on what is now appropriately referred to as "Merrick Vincent Road," off 310. In the 1940 census, it was listed as "Vincent Road."

Somewhere in the early 1930s, Howard married Della Sephronia Sloan. They had three children: Martha, Goldie, and Merrick.

Military Service:

Howard registered for the draft on October 16, 1940. At the time, he was working for the Fairmont Box Company. He listed himself as 5'7" and 140 lbs, with blue eyes and brown hair. He lists his address then as Rt 1, Hammond.

He enlisted in the military on October 12, 1942 in Clarksburg, West Virginia. The publication World War II Young American Patriots states that he served in camps in Atterbury, Indiana and Breckinridge, Kentucky, in addition to France and Belgium.

Howard served with the 330th Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division, including during the Battle of the Bulge. He was killed in action April 10, 1945, somewhere in or around Goslar, Germany. The day after Howard's death, the 83rd liberated Langenstein, a subcamp of Buchenwald, where they found 1,100 prisoners in terrible health. Learn more by visiting this link from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-83rd-infantry-division

Legacy and Survivors:

Tec5 Howard Raymond Vincent is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands. He was awarded the following medals for his service: Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars, Good Conduct Medal, Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, and the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (also known as EAME). 

He is honored on the "Marion County Veterans Killed in Action" Memorial at Veterans Square in Fairmont, WV, and at the  West Virginia Veterans Memorial in Charleston, WV. 

He was survived by his wife Della, and their three children. Della lived until 2000, when she died at the age of 87. She is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Fairmont.

The 83rd Infantry Division (summary from Wikipedia):

"It entered the Battle of the Bulge, 27 December, striking at Rochefort and reducing the enemy salient in a bitter struggle. The division moved back to Belgium and the Netherlands for rehabilitation and training, 22 January 1945. On 1 March, the 83rd Division advanced toward the Rhine in Operation Grenade, and captured Neuss. The west bank of the Rhine from north of Oberkassel to the Erft Canal was cleared and defensive positions established by 2 March and the division renewed its training. The 83rd Division crossed the Rhine south of Wesel, 29 March, and advanced across the Munster Plain to the Weser, crossing it at Bodenwerder. The division crossed the Leine, 8 April, and attacked to the east, pushing over the Harz Mountain region and advancing to the Elbe at Barby. That city was taken on 13 April. The 83rd Division established a bridgehead over the river.

On 11 April 1945 the 83rd Division encountered Langenstein-Zwieberge, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. At the camp, the troops found approximately 1,100 inmates. The inmates were malnourished and in extremely poor physical condition. The 83rd Division reported the death rate at the camp had been 500 per month. Also, that the prisoners had been forced to work 16-hour days in nearby mines, and were shot if they became too weak to work. After liberation, the death rate continued at approximately 25–50 people per day, due to the severe physical debilitation of the prisoners."

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