Howard DeHart Hughes first was a Harvard man, Class of 1904. Following his graduation he entered the University of Washington’s Law School graduating in 1907. He worked for several years as an attorney for the City of Seattle, later opening his own law practice, following in his father’s footsteps. One of two children, Howard was born in Carthage, Illinois, to Elwood Clark Hughes and his wife, Emma Jane DeHart.
He entered the first Officers’ Training Camp at the Presidio in 1917 and was commissioned a captain. He was assigned to the 361st Infantry, 91st Division, and was killed in action on November 1, 1918, at Woertigem, Belgium during the Lys-Scheldt Offensive. He was conferring with the unit’s colonel when both were hit by a shell.
He told his brother-in-law who he had chanced to meet up with in France he expected to be killed and that he “had a personal conviction that he would never return to America.” (Memoirs of The Harvard Dead In The War Against Germany) Originally buried in Belgium, he was reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery. (bit.ly/uw_hughes) He was awarded the Silver Star for his “distinguished and conspicuous ability in handling his company.” (Congressional citation)