HOWARD, William Leonard

William was born in Newport in 1922 the second son of Harry & Rose, of 2 Trafalgar Road, Newport.  He was an old Barton School boy, & before joining the Hampshire Regiment in 1941, was employed by Pickfords.

The Germans had made a stand in front of Arezzo early in July 1944, & there was fierce fighting before the town was taken on 16th July by the 6th Armoured Division with the aid of the 2nd New Zealand Division.

On 22nd July 1944 William, died of wounds, aged 22, received in heavy fighting mopping up German resistance. Initially he was given a battlefield burial & then on the 4th of May 1945, his body was exhumed by an Army Graves Concentration Unit & reburied at Arezzo War Cemetery in Italy, beneath a Commission Headstone bearing the Family Inscription: “GOD WILL LINK THE GOLDEN CHAIN WHEN IN HEAVEN WE MEET AGAIN”.

The site for this cemetery was selected in November 1944, & graves were brought into it from the surrounding area. He lies with 1,231 of his brothers in arms.

William is also remembered on the Newport Borough War Memorial.