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ArthurHowe, Jr.A PUBLICATION OF THE ARCHIVES OF THE AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE AND AFS INTERCULTURAL PROGRAMSDear AFS Friend,When we were planning this issue of the AFS Januswe realized that we were long overdue in honoringArthur Howe, Jr., AFS Ambulance Driver, former AFSInternational President, and AFS International Life Trustee.Art’s contributions to AFS have spanned decades and hisis truly a living and thriving legacy. We hope you enjoyreading about his extraordinary life of service as much aswe enjoyed talking to Art in preparing the article.We would like to bid goodbye to Eleanora Golobic, whoserved as AFS Archivist and Alumni Relations Managerfrom August 1988 to January 2011. Eleanora oversaw theArchives for 22 years and played a key role in the AFSAmbulance Drivers’ Benefits Project that resulted in overfour hundred drivers receiving U.S. Army Veterans’ benefits.Among her other achievements, she helped introduce theAFS Legacy Project to perpetuate the legacy of the AFSAmbulance Drivers. For twenty years, Eleanora edited thispublication, which was originally conceived as the AFSDrivers’ outreach publication.In this issue we are pleased to introduce a featurewritten by Stephen Galatti, Jr., “The AFS Vignettes,” inwhich he shares his reminiscences of AFS during itsformative years and beyond. This will be a recurringfeature and we invite our readers to contact the authorvia e-mail at sg@galatti.com if they would like to sharesome of their own stories about AFS with him.Francisco “Tachi” Cazal updates us on recent AFSevents in his “Letter from the AFS President” and NicoleMilano (Project Archivist) and Johnamarie Macias(Archives Intern) update us on the continued excitementthat is being generated by the National HistoricalPublications and Records Commission grant project.We hope you enjoy this issue of the AFS Janus.Carlos Porro, Editorcarlos.porro@afs.orgAFS Intercultural Programs, Inc.71 West 23rd Street, 6th FloorNew York, NY 10010-4102 USAtel: +1.212.807.8686fax: +1.212.807.1001www.afs.orgDriving theFuture of AFS“Arthur Howe representsthe spirit and soul ofAFS. He is a constantinspiration to me andthousands of AFS’ersthroughout the world.”-Ward B. Chamberlin, Jr.AFS Ambulance Driver andAFS International Life TrusteeIn Yale University’s 25th reunion yearbook, publishedin 1968, Art Howe wrote, “Am I content with life?Extremely so in my personal life, but most discontentover the condition in which most of mankind is forced tolive and the apparently increasing chaos of relationshipsbetween nations…” This discontent about the state of theworld sheds some light on why he dedicated so many yearsof his life to AFS, an organization he values for its ability toenable people to act as responsible global citizens workingfor peace and understanding in a diverse world.Arthur Howe, Jr., was born on July 19, 1921, in Watertown,Connecticut. In 1926, Art’s father moved with his family toNew Hampshire to work at Dartmouth College where Artbecame adept at ski jumping. “That was one of my fewaccomplishments in those years. There were criticisms, too.My third grade teacher complained that I talked too muchduring class—an ominous prediction.”Howe graduated from the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville,Connecticut, in 1938. In 1938-1939 he was in England as anexchange student with the English Speaking Union program.“That was the year war broke out in Europe,” Art reminisced.“People in England were learning to dig slit trenches andgenerally preparing for the worst. This made a tremendousimpression on me. I did not fully endorse pacifism, butAFS JANUS • SPRING 2011 • 2
Lieutenant Arthur Howe, Jr., in an AFS staff car in NorthAfrica, undated.Arthur Howe, Jr., (left) watching a “dog fight” with KirkLeMoyne Billings (right) in Tunisia, 1943.On the cover: Arthur Howe, Jr., ca. 1943.Insert 1: Taken from a wartime group photograph, ca. 1941-1943.Insert 2: Standing by an AFS ambulance at the 2002 Baltimore AFS Driver Reunion.it encouraged me to seek servicewithout killing.” Upon his return fromEngland, he entered Yale University inthe fall of 1939.While still a student at Yale, Artvolunteered to serve in France as anAmbulance Driver with the AmericanField Service (AFS) in 1941 whenhe was 19. When that opportunitywas cancelled due to the Germanoccupation of France, Art applied forthe AFS units being formed to join theBritish forces.In early 1942, he was sent to theMiddle East to serve with the BritishArmy, first briefly in Syria, Lebanon,and Palestine. In late spring of 1942, hemoved to the African western desertwhere he remained throughout therest of that campaign with the BritishEighth Army. While in Tobruk, Lybia, inJune of 1942, he wrote to his parents,“The airplanes of the enemy are overoff and on in the day time, but atnight they drone overhead continually,wantonly bombing, machine gunningand dropping flares. All of this keepsus on the go, and yet in a larger sense,this war is a horrible and terrible thingin the way it tears bodies to bits,breaks up families and destroys andkills. Certainly there must never beanother one.”Later that year the armyretreated to Egypt where the Britishreorganized. At the Battle of ElAlamein, the Eighth Army broke theAxis lines and drove the Germans andItalians back to Tunisia.In May of 1943, Stephen Galattiwrote to Howe’s parents that Artwas doing a “perfect job” in hiscommanding position while servingwith the British Eighth Army, and thathe “held his own with probably thefinest army in the world today.”Regarding his service with AFS andhis relationship with Stephen Galatti,during and after the war, Art said, “Oneof the strongest elements in my AFSinvolvement was my high admirationfor and considerable difficulty indealing personally with Steve Galatti,surely a giant of a man in leading andinspiring a multitude of young peoplein doing AFS’s work. My first contactswith him as an AFS officer responsiblefor many AFS Volunteers during WorldWar II were challenging, to say theleast. However, he became one of themost influential people in my longand privileged life—about 90 percentpositive and 10 percent painful. Hisdominant style, known to some as ‘myway or no way’ was packaged in hispowerful idealism and commitment toAFS, its purposes, and its people. Noone could, or should have tried, to fillhis shoes.”Art arrived in Tunisia in June of1943. The AFS Drivers spent thesummer months of that year refittingAFS JANUS • SPRING 2011 • 3
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