Title: Legion of Merit citation to Captain William Stamps Howard Jr., U.S. Navy

Identifier: 0356-b1-fd   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/35479)

Description: Legion of Merit citation from the President of the United States to Captain William Stamps Howard Jr., U.S. Navy, presented by James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy. The citation is "for exceptionally meritorious conduct ... as Commander, Patrol and Escort Group, Task Force Fifty Seven; Commander, Escort Division Twenty Eight; and Commander, Marshall Gilberts Surface Patrol and Escort Group, during sustained operations against enemy Japanese forces in the Central Pacific Campaign, from January 1, 1944, to March 9, 1945." Captain William Stamps Howard, Jr. (1902-1962) was a native of Tarboro, NC, and a 1925 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. At the outbreak of World War II he commanded the destroyer USS Sturtevant in convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic.