Bill Howard

Guilford emerged from basic training at Parris Island in September 1918. The newly-minted Private Howard was assigned as a machine gunner to

Original GAR cap with wreath badge and white leather belt with brass GAR belt buckle used by a Civil War veteran for dress parade. The white painted leather belts (or even white canvas belts) are common but the cap painted white is rather unique. In the dusk before evening, a veteran marching with these accoutrements might have seemed a “ghost soldier.” (Credit: William F. Howard Collection) In 1866, a new organization was formed by veterans of the conflict called The "Gra