He was called to active duty in January 1943, trained in Texas, crewed up in Casper, Wyoming and joined the 466th at Attlebridge near Norwich. On only his 2nd mission, a raid on Magdeburg, his plane lost three engines and they were forced to bail out. Howard broke his leg on landing and was made to march to a railway station. (Prisoner of War (POW) - crashed on 2 Mar 45 in B-24 42-51273). He was taken to hospital and shortly afterwards they were liberated by the advancing American Army. Discharged October 31 1945 he went back to farming, importing cattle and running a fertilizer business. He later wrote a book of his experiences entitled 'Flying High in Iowa'