WILLIAMSPORT, PA, US
U.S. Marine Corps
LCPL, I&I STF, MP CO. B(-), (RCT-7, I MEF FWD), 4TH FSSG, NORTH VERSAILLES, PA
05/06/2007, HELMAND PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN
A Marine Lance Corporal from Williamsport, scheduled to come home from Afghanistan in late August, was killed Tuesday while on patrol.
Abram L. Howard, 21, died from shrapnel wounds, his mother, Constance Howard, said Wednesday. The family has not been provided any details about his death, but she said she believes it occurred in the Mazar area in the northeast part of the country.
Howard was a reservist with Military Police Bravo Company out of North Versailles in the Pittsburgh area. He had enlisted in the Marines in May 2007 about a month before graduating from Williamsport Area High School, where he played football, wrestled and was in the orchestra.
The third-generation Marine went on active duty before Thanksgiving and had been in Afghanistan since Feb. 5. His active duty tour was scheduled to end Aug. 28. His mother said she and her husband, Bart, planned to pick him up in Pittsburgh in early September.
Howard called regularly by satellite phone and said he liked what he was doing, but could not wait to get out of there, his mother said.
His plans when he got home were to leave the reserves for active duty and receive training to detonate explosives, she said. He was cleared for presidential guard duty and had talked about a career with the FBI or the CIA, she said.
Constance Howard described her son as well-liked with a lot of friends, free-spirited, charming and respectful. He liked to play the guitar, she said.
He is survived by his parents, a brother, Alex, and a sister, Olivia Howard.