RESIDENCE (DURING WWII):
VanZandt County, Texas
FULL NAME:
Howard T. Rook
ARMY SERIAL NUMBER (ASN):
18006453
- DATE OF BIRTH: Jan 1, 1920
- DATE OF DEATH: Jul 26, 1944
DATE / PLACE OF ENLISTMENT:
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DATE OF ENLISTMENT:Sept 16, 1940
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PLACE OF ENLISTMENT:Dallas, Texas
ORGANIZATION:
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MAIN UNIT:23rd Infantry Regiment
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SUBUNIT:Company K, 3rd Battalion
RANK / POSITION IN UNIT (LAST KNOWN):
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RANK:Sergeant (Sgt.)
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POSITION IN UNIT:Squad Leader
BATTLES AND CAMPAIGNS:
✭ Normandy Campaign (6 June – 24 July 1944), ✭ Northern France Campaign (25 July – 14 September 1944)
DECORATIONS AND CITATIONS (AWARDS):
🎖Silver Star Medal, 🎖Purple Heart, 🎖European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, 🎖Combat Infantry Badge
SUMMARY OF HIS SERVICE:
Sgt Rook was WIA on the 19th July 1944 by an Artillery Burst and suffered concussion.
On the 26th July he took part in Operation Cobra where he attacked across the Saint Lo - Bayeux highway close to Croix rouge attacking a small wooded area. After his Squad leader was wounded and the Squad was pinned down he skillfully lead his men in an flanking maneuver past two German machinegun nest and exposed these to his men. For this brave action he received posthumously the Silver Star Medal. Shortly after this on the same day while clearing out Germans from the woods he was KIA by either a bullet or shrapnel to the thorax. He and many men from his company remained MIA for several days
Eyewitness reports for Company K's attack across the open fields attacking the small woods was described after the war by Captain Thomas A. Harris, a commanding officer of Company M, 23rd Infantry as ‘one of the worst barrages of artillery I have ever seen.’ He also mentions that they ran into point blank machine gun fire.
