Obituary of Howard RATHBUN

Howard J. Rathbun, 86, passed away Saturday, February 15, 2003 at Havasu Regional Medical Center. He was a career Army officer who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, at the front lines for 10 months as a 2nd Lieutenant and Platoon Leader of a Rifle Platoon in the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment with the 2nd Armored Division: "Hell on Wheels". He served in 4 WWII campaigns: Belgium, France, Holland and Germany, and received 2 Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star, the French Croix de Guerre, 2 Belgian Croix de Guerre and the Prisoner of War Medal. He was taken prisoner of war by the Germans on the Elbe river at Schoenbeck, Germany and imprisoned at Aultengrabow, Stalag 11A, south of Berlin, until his liberation by US forces on May 3rd, 1945. As part of his imprisonment, Maj. Rathbun was forced to march to Berlin in the winter of 1944-45 and back to Aultengrabow, suffering frostbite and malnutrition.Major Rathbun was born to Ida Kersten and Robert Theodore Rathbun on May 2, 1916 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the youngest of 3 sons. He met his wife of 60 years, Ruth Kerskamp Rathbun, while they were both students at West Division High School in Milwaukee, where he played left end on the football team. He was an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Carroll College, Waukesha, where he played college football. He enlisted in the Army in 1941 and was first assigned to the 11th Horse Cavalry at Camp Seely, El Centro, California, where he fell in love with the desert and became a trained horseman on "Chances Are". His cavalry unit became part of the 10th Armored Division where he served under General George Patton at Ft. Benning, Georgia. He was nominated to Officer Candidate School and graduated in the top 10% of his class in 1942. As an OCS scholar, he was sent to teach infantry tactics to ordnance officers in Mississippi and Alabama, before he went overseas as an infantry officer in WWII. After the war, Major Rathbun left the service for 3 years and graduated from the Milwaukee School of Engineering before reenlisting in 1948, with the mission "to teach young servicemen how to survive". He became a heavy weapons specialist during the Korean War, serving in Panama and spent the duration of his career as an Artillery Officer, specializing in Howitzers and the training of young artillerymen. He taught ROTC at the University of Indiana and served in Germany, heading a howitzer battery on the East German border, shortly after the Berlin airlift in the early 1960's. After 22 years, he retired in 1966 and served as Emergency Government Director in Appleton, Wisconsin until 1976. In that year, he and his wife, Ruth moved to Lake Havasu where they have been residents for 27 years.Major Rathbun was an active member of the London Bridge Golf Club for over 20 years and a Blue Lodge Mason for over 50 years.He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Ruth Kerskamp Rathbun; his daughter, Jennifer M. Rathbun, M.D. and his son-in-law, David B. Herzog, M.D., and two grandsons, Jonathan Rathbun Herzog and Matthew Alden Herzog, all of Boston. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the American Red Cross, Lake Havasu City, Arizona.Full military honors and burial will take place at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.Arrangements were entrusted to Lietz-Fraze Funeral Home.