TELLS STORY OF BEING HIT
Sgt. Howard Boston of This City Wiped Out Gun ‘Nest’.
(This story was received by the Freeman-Journal direct from headquarters, communications zone, European theater of operations of the U. S. army and passed by censor.)
The 11th General Hospital, England—Struck in the chin by a machine gun bullet as he was helping to drive a German machine gun squad out of a house near Bastogne, Belgium, Sgt. Howard B. Boston, 23, of Webster City, Iowa, is now recovering at this United States army general hospital in England.
Although his chin was broken by the bullet, Sgt. Boston kept on fighting with the other three men until the house was cleared and the machine gun nest was wiped out. He wears the combat infantry badge and has been awarded the purple heart.
“Three of the boys and I were approaching this house across a field,” recalled the infantryman. “Inside was a Jerry machine gun crew and a couple of snipers. I was shot when I was about halfway across the field. The other three men kept the Jerries busy while I worked my way nearer the house and finally got into a position where I could pick off the Jerries. I went back to the aid station later on. I was operated on at an evacuation hospital and was then flown here from Paris.”
After graduating from the Webster City high school in 1936, Sgt. Boston worked for the Thompson Construction company in Waterloo, Iowa. He entered the army in February, 1944. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter A. Boston, live on route 3, Webster City. His wife, Ardis, and their two children, Robert, 5, and Rita K., 2, live in Webster City.
“Sgt. Boston is well on the road to recovery,” said First Lieutenant Harry A. Appel, of Chicago, Ill., his ward surgeon.” He will soon be ready to return to duty.”
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Feb. 26, 1945
VIET NAM BOMB BLAST INJURED W. C. OFFICER
Two Americans Die in Attack By Terrorist
Capt. Howard Boston Hurt; Flown to Manila For Treatment
Captain Howard Boston, 38, of Webster City was wounded Wednesday evening when a Communist terrorist slipped into an American military billet 20 miles north of Saigon, Viet Nam, and exploded a bomb which killed two U. S. military advisors, himself and three South Vietnamese.
According to an Associated Press dispatch from Saigon, Captain Boston was not seriously injured and had been flown to Clark Field at Manila, Philippines, for medical treatment.
Captain Boston, a veteran of 14 years with the U.S. Army, is on a 12-month tour of duty in Saigon as an artillery officer. His wife said this morning that she had not been officially notified of the incident until contacted by the Associated Press.
She said that she was full of fear when first notified of the wounding of her husband, a feeling she had experienced before when word was received during World War II that a sniper’s bullet had wounded the Webster City serviceman during the Battle of the Bulge in France….
Captain Boston is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Boston, now residing at Blairsburg. His wife is the former Ardys Hupp of Webster City, and they are the parents of five children: Robert, 19, student at Iowa State University in Ames; Rita, 16; Mary Beth, 9; Carolyn Sue, 9, and Frances, 6, all at home with mother on West James St., Webster City.
Capt. Boston joined the army early in 1943, served in Europe during World War II and was wounded by sniper’s bullet in Battle of the Bulge.
After the war he was assigned to recruiting duty in Wright county, then served two years with army reserve unit at Fort Dodge, then was transferred to Fort Carson, Colo., and Camp Atterbury, N. J., before going to Germany with his family in 1952.
After returning from Germany in 1955, he was an ROTA instructor at Loras Academy at Dubuque, then served at Fort Sill, Okla., and Fort Carson, Colo., before sailing June 22 for Viet Nam.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, July 9, 1959
NOTES:
Howard Bernard Boston was born Feb. 6, 1922 to Walter A. and Margaret E. Welty Boston. He died May 13, 1994 and is buried in Saint Mary’s Cemetery, Williams, IA.
Sources: Daily Freeman Journal and ancestry.com
