Chapter 1 · Map
Where Howard Was
From Napoleon, Ohio, across the Pacific with the USS Fletcher, and home to Los Angeles, 1941–1945.
How far he went
The routes between the stops on this map add up to about miles. A destroyer’s real mileage was far greater: patrols, screening zigzags, bombardment runs and convoy duty meant steaming back and forth for weeks at a time. A newspaper article from the spring of 1945 reported that the Fletcher had “traveled in excess of 200,000 miles in the Pacific” since she joined the fleet in 1942. Howard was aboard for about four-fifths of that time, and the ship kept steaming after the article ran, through Borneo and home. Together that suggests he steamed somewhere around 175,000 miles, about seven times around the world.
Dates and places before December 1942 come from family recollection, and some positions at sea are approximate. The tracks between ports are drawn to stay on the water, so they show a likely path, not the ship’s logged course. The Fletcher’s movements come from the Navy’s official ship history and her action reports. Click any stop below, or use the Next button, to follow him through the war.