World War II
At the outbreak of World War II, Howard volunteered for the RAF and British Army, but was turned down by both. However, in 1940, after working at the Colchester Repertory Theatre, he was called up into the Royal Corps of Signals, airborne division, becoming a Second Lieutenant, before he was invalided out in 1943. Although stories of his courageous wartime service earned him much respect among fellow actors and fans alike, files held in the Public Records Office reveal he had actually been discharged from the Army for mental instability and having a "psychopathic personality". The service stories were originally fabricated without his consent for publicity purposes, although Howard also recounted how he had parachuted into Nazi-occupied Norway and fought in the Allied invasion of Sicily.
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