SSG Howard Luck Nichols

courtesy of Amanda Bishop Burns

SSG Howard Luck Nichols was born in Roanoke, Virginia on 23 Jan 1919. He was the 2nd child of 5 born to Jessie Harry and Nancy Mary (Hurt) Nichols. His father worked for the Norfolk and Western Railroad reporting a 1939 income of $1639. Howard was working as a truck driver for a produce wholesaler and had been unemployed for 13 weeks before finding that job. He had a 1939 income of only $159. At the time the family was living together in the home (valued at $2500) his father owned at 1030 Stewart Avenue in Roanoke. 

Howard was already a member of the National Guard when the unit was mobilized on 1 Feb 1941. As such he would have trained with the 116th Infantry at Fort Meade, Maryland and Camp Blanding, Florida before boarding the Queen Mary and sailing for England in September 1942. Once in England the unit soon began training for the amphibious assault on the beaches of occupied France. SSG Nichols was a part of that effort as a member of Anti-Tank Company 116th Infantry. SSG Nichols was killed in action on 16 Jun 1944.

SSG Nichols was repatriated and re-interred in Fair View Cemetery in Roanoke, Virginia.

Brother, Herman Cable Nichols, served in the U.S. Navy 1943 to 1945 and brother, James Edward Nichols, served in the Navy.