LIEUTENANT JOHN HOWE

[DavidM]

John Howe (220399) was commissioned into The Manchester Regiment on 21 December 1941.
According to the CWGC Roll he was killed on 30 October 1942 and is buried in the Alamein cemetery.
The CWGC gives his regiment as "Manchester" but not one of the battalions of the regiment was anywhere near the Battle of Alamein.
I am seeking to discover what unit he was serving with and when and how he died, but the Museum cannot identify him. Can anyone shed any light on this, please? Many thanks,
David Miller

[harribobs]

hi David

and welcome to the forum

WW2 isn't my 'period' but my father was there in north africa, 

is John a relation of yours?


cheers

chris

[DavidM]

Chris,
He is no relation. I am reviewing the Roll of Honour of my old school, Christ's Hospital, Horsham, and writing a brief biography of each of them - 209! I am now down to about the last dozen or so "difficult" cases, of which John Howe is one. I have corresponded with various experts, but nobody can explain what John Howe was doing in the Western Desert. Apart from the Regimental Museum, I have tried LRDG, SAS, PPA etc, but no luck there. One remote possibility that I have just come across is that 41RTR and 47RTR, which had been formed in 1938 by rebadging 10th Battalion, The Manchesters, were in the desert and were at Second Alamein. So, it seems possible that JH might have been sent to one or other of these regiments under some friendly arrangement between COs. But, if so, and since he was commissioned in December 1941, it would have seemed more sensible to have commissioned him into the RTR rather than The Manchesters.

If your father was a Manchester and was in the Desert may I ask what unit he was with?

I should add that although Christ's Hospital was in SE England and the vast majority of pupils came from London and the Home Counties, a signficant number served in The Manchesters in both world wars, notably of course, Wilfrith Elstob, VC.

Anything you can do to help track down John Howe will be greatly appreciated,

Regards,

David

[harribobs]

hi David

no, my father wasn't in the Manchester regiment, he was a DR in the signals

certainly the 41st would be a possibility but i'm not so sure how easy it would be to trace him if he was attached to one of the 'commando' type units

his service record will still be at the MOD and if you're not NOK.....

chris

[themonsstar]

I have photographs of at least three officers of the 8th Bn Manchester's , who were on the staff of the fourth Indian division,I would suggest that the officer you're looking for was most likely in one of the brigade or divisional staff jobs.

Have you checked, the Army lists to see which Battalion he was posted to.

[DavidM]

It is not impossible that John Howe was in a staff job, but it seems unlikely. He was just 24 years old and had been commissioned as recently as 21 December 1941 (he died on 30 October 1942). So, he would have had very little military experience and no proper staff training, which kicked in at the rank of captain, so I do not see what job he could usefully have done.
It is possible that he may have been an ADC and general officers normally selected such aides from junior officers in their own regiments. So, does anuone know of an ex-Manchester major-general or above who served in Egypt or the Western Desert in 1941-42?
DavidM