Cox Howard Henry Rohde i Cook County, Illinois, on March 2, 1925, to Henry Rohde and Bernice Keefer-Rohde, and had two sisters and a brother. The family resided at 38 South Hillside Avenue, Hillside, Illinois. He graduated from Sunnyside School, Berkeley, Illinois, and attended Proviso Township High School but left on April 10, 1942, to join the Navy.
Howard enlisted in the US Navy on April 30, 1942, and was sent to Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois, for his basic training. He was issued the serial number 300 84 34. It is known that on June 30, 1942 he was attending Armed School at the US Navy Armory in Chicago. In a telegram to his parents in September 1942, he told them he had been assigned to convoy duty. He was at the Armed Guard Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 31, 1942. He, at some point, attained the rank of Coxswain.
On April 10, 1943, he arrived home to the surprise of his parents who were now living in, another Chicago suburb, Northlake, Illinois. By this time, he had sailed in convoys to Scotland, England, and Africa. He returned to his ship on April 24th. On May 28th, he had another leave and visited his brother, Jack, at Baimbridge Georgia, who was in the Army Air Corps.
It was while Howard was on convoy duty in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida, on October 20, 1943, that his ship collided with another ship. The details of what happened are not known. What is known was Howard was reported missing after muster was taken. In October 1946, 55th Avenue, in Berkeley, was Rohde Avenue in honor of Howard Rohde. His name was also placed on the Tablets of the Missing at the East Coast Memorial, New York, New York and his parents had a headstone placed at the Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Park, Illinois.
