{{Short description|British Army officer}} {{other people|Richard Howe}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = Captain |name = Richard Herbert Howe |honorific_suffix = MBE MC |image = File:Captain_Dick_Howe_MBE_MC.jpg |caption = |birth_date = 21 June 1912 |death_date = c. 1 June 1981 (aged 68) |burial_label = |burial_place = |birth_place = Arecife, Brazil |death_place = Royal Tunbridge Wells, England |burial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> |nickname = |birth_name = |allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom|23px}} |branch = {{army|United Kingdom|23px}} |service_years = |rank = Captain |service_number = |unit = |commands = |battles = World War II |battles_label = |awards = MBE<br />Military Cross |relations = |other_work = }} Captain '''Richard Herbert Howe''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE|MC|sep=yes}} (21 June 1912 – c. 1 June 1981) was a British army officer during World War II.<ref name="auto">Obituary in ''The Times'', ''Captain Richard Howe'', 4 June 1981, p.16</ref><ref>Obituary in ''The Daily Telegraph'', Thursday, June 4, 1981, p. 16</ref> He was captured by the Germans in 1940 and eventually held in Oflag IV-C, at Colditz Castle, where he served as Escape Officer from 1942 to 1945.<ref name="auto"/> He organised many escapes including eight successful ''home runs'' of British officers.<ref name="auto"/>
Lt. Col. Moran of the Colditz Association described him as 'an outstanding chap, the soul of Colditz. In a crisis he was the most calm individual and he had enormous reserves of will power'.<ref>''The Eagle'', The Magazine of Bedford Modern School, Volume 40 (80), 1980–81, Number 291, p.324</ref>
==Life== Richard Herbert Howe was born on 21 June 1912 in Brazil, the son of Charles Herbert Howe and Ethyl Jeannie Maud Howe (née Nichols).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ancestry.co.uk|title=Ancestry™ – Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records}}</ref> He was educated at Bedford Modern School between 1920 and 1930.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Bedfordshire/BedfordModernSchoolMemorials.html |title=Bedford Modern School Memorials |work=Roll of Honour |year=2010 |access-date=28 September 2014}}</ref>
Howe served as a lance corporal on the Officers' Training Corps at Bedford and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Tank Corps on 13 May 1933.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33939 |date=12 May 1933 |page=3205 |nolink=yes }}</ref> After a short period of time with the Royal Tank Corps, he worked in radio manufacturing for Kolster-Brandes Limited, A.C. Cossor Limited and Truphonic Radio Limited.<ref name="google.co.uk">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c25uBAAAQBAJ&q=captain+dick+howe+colditz&pg=PT59|title=Escape from Colditz|isbn=9780719816345|last1=Eggers|first1=Reinhold|date=30 September 2014}}</ref> At the outbreak of World War II he rejoined the 3rd Battalion Royal Tank Regiment.<ref name="google.co.uk"/>
In 1940, Howe was serving in the British Expeditionary Force, as a lieutenant, and temporary captain, in the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, when he was awarded the Military Cross while defending troops evacuating Calais.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web |url= http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7356394 |title=Recommendation for Award for Howe, Richard Herbert |work=The National Archives |year=2014 |access-date=28 September 2014}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=15725 |date=16 July 1940 |pages=447–449 |city=e }}</ref>
After being captured following the Siege of Calais, he was imprisoned at Oflag VII-C at Laufen. Howe was one of six British officers who escaped, but were eventually recaptured. Howe and the rest of the "Laufen Six" — Harry Elliott, Rupert Barry (later Sir Rupert Barry), Pat Reid, Anthony "Peter" Allan and Kenneth Lockwood — were then sent to Colditz.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/O4C/PicOf_4C_LaufenSix.htm |title=The Laufen Six |work=Pegasus Archive |year=2006 |access-date=28 September 2014}}</ref> Howe later replaced Reid as Escape Officer, co-ordinating all escape plans, after Reid himself escaped in October 1942. He organised many escapes including eight successful ''home runs'' of British officers.<ref name="auto"/>
Howe remained a prisoner until the end of the war, but his efforts were recognized by being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in June 1946.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37595 |date=4 June 1946 |page=2736 |supp=y |nolink=yes }}</ref> Howe died in hospital in Tunbridge Wells, Kent in 1981.<ref name="auto"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Captain Richard}} Category:Royal Tank Regiment officers Category:Prisoners of war held at Colditz Castle Category:Recipients of the Military Cross Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:People educated at Bedford Modern School Category:1912 births Category:1981 deaths Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:British World War II prisoners of war Category:Officers' Training Corps cadets