Four churches in the Diocese of the Rio Grande, including the Cathedral of St. John, will remember Chaplain Frederick Howden Jr. on the 75th anniversary of his sacrifice.
The diocese provides details about Fr. Howden’s life and death:
[T]he Rev. Chaplain Frederick B. “Ted” Howden Jr. died [on Dec. 11, 1942] of starvation-induced pellagra in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp after selflessly giving his rations to others he felt needed them more. We observe his martyrdom as a measure of the price of ministry in the struggle for freedom.
When World War II broke out Fr. Howden held the rank of Captain in the New Mexico State Guard, and was the Chaplain to the 200th Coast Artillery when it was federalized and sent to the Philippines in September 1941. At the Fall of Bataan and Corregidor to Japanese forces in April 1942, Fr. Howden and his fellow soldiers were made prisoners of war and were forced to endure the Bataan Death March during which some 18,000 died.
… He was buried by his men in a small cemetery in the shadow of the Mindanao jungle a mile or so from the camp at Davao. After the war, in 1948, his remains were reinterred in Fairview Cemetery in Albuquerque.
Read the rest, including propers for Fr. Howden [Word]
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
