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Captain Howard Rudolph Cody

Howard Cody in his flight suit and headphones.
  • Unit: 612nd Tactical Fighter Squadron
  • Date of Birth: September 5, 1934
  • Entered the Military: February 13, 1954
  • Date of Death: November 24, 1963
  • Hometown: Gulfport, Mississippi
  • Place of Death: Ca Mau, Vietnam
  • Award(s): Air Force Cross, Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Service Medal, Medal of Valor of Norway
  • Cemetery: Courts of the Missing, Court A, Honolulu Memorial. National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
Contributed by Mrs. Elizabeth V. Green
College and Career Technical Institute, Pascagoula Gautier School District (Pascagoula, Mississippi)
2024/2025

Early Life

Howard Rudolph Cody was born to Howard Romie Cody (known as Papa Cody) and Mildred Conn Cody on September 5, 1934. His father, from Simpson County, Mississippi, moved to Biloxi, Mississippi. He eventually became the Vice President of Sales for Rex Beverage. 

Howard was an only child and the center of his parents’ universe. According to family lore, young Cody was never told “no.” His father gave him two affectionate nicknames. One, “Wild Bill,” referenced the Old West legend, Wild Bill Cody. The other, “Sonny Boy,” stuck and was eventually shortened to “Sonny,” a nickname he carried for all of his life. 

Education

Cody attended school in the Gulfport School District and graduated from Gulfport High School. He played the cornet, had a job delivering papers, and drove a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. His lifelong friend, Colonel Neil McInnis, recalled Cody as a child, “I knew Bill Cody when we were growing up in Gulfport . . If he rode a bike, he rode it fast. If he rode a motorbike, he rode it fast. If he had a cycle, he could handle it superbly.”

After graduation, he began college at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, approximately 60 miles from the Gulf Coast. He joined the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and the military.  

Family Man

In 1954, Cody met another Gulfport resident, Myrna Louise Waller, at a party. Although a few years his junior, the connection between the two was immediate, and they married in July 1954. 

In February 1955, Sonny and Myrna welcomed their first child, Howard Randall (Randy). In June 1956, their daughter Rhonda was born, followed by Karen in January 1959.

Cody was a stern disciplinarian, yet a true family man. His daughter, Rhonda, remembered him as the biggest “kid” of all of them. Every morning, he would whistle “Reveille” to wake them up. Everything became an adventure for the Cody children with their father. 

Rhonda remembered her father’s Ford, which he bought and painted yellow. She and her brother rode in the jump seat on a cardboard box while their younger sister and parents rode inside. She similarly recalled the dune buggy her father bought in Fort Walton Beach shortly before leaving for Vietnam. Her mom had decorated the bright pink buggy with fringe.  

Cody’s children and wife remembered him as loving and larger than life.

In a childhood photograph, Howard Cody looks intently at an image of George Washington, circa 1937. On the back of the photograph, an unknown family member referred to him as Rudy, a name that did not stick. Courtesy of Rhonda Cody.
Howard Cody wearing his band uniform from Gulfport High School. Cody played the cornet in the band. Courtesy of Rhonda Cody.
Cody posed with his three children in Fort Walton Beach, Florida shortly before he left for Vietnam, 1963. Courtesy of Rhonda Cody.

Homefront

Gulfport, Mississippi 

Gulfport, Mississippi, started as a boom town with the construction of the Gulf & Ship Island (G&SI) Railroad. It became the state’s second-largest city and the county seat of Harrison County.

By the 1900s, Gulfport had become a more favorable location for railroad access than nearby Mobile, Alabama, or New Orleans, Louisiana, and it emerged as the largest lumber export city in the country. Shipping may have been king, but the shrimping industry was a close second. 

Keesler Air Force Base 

During World War II, the military constructed an airstrip in Biloxi as part of a technical training institute. By the 1950s, Keesler Air Force Base had expanded to meet the modernization needs of the early Cold War era. Airmen receive training in areas including air traffic control, mechanical and technical skills, engine mechanics, and medical support. 

With the growing missile buildup, Keelser opened training programs for SM-65 Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missile ground support. The significance of the base increased as the Cold War’s missile buildup intensified. By 1960, Kessler had expanded its training programs, which increased the number of trainees and their families entering the coastal communities. 

Gulfport in the 1960s

Biloxi, Mississippi, located next to Gulfport, gained national attention for wade-ins, or protests to integrate the city’s segregated beaches. In Biloxi, until 1963, protests led with the support of the NAACP were met with violence. However, a lesser-known leader named Dr. Felix Dunn led two wade-ins at Gulfport Beach in the 1960s. Gulfport was a relatively peaceful community for the time, compared to the surrounding coastal areas. 

Hurricane Camille struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast on August 17, 1969. It was one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S. The Biloxi area was devastated.

Sonny and Myrna Cody graduated from Gulfport High School. This postcard of the school dates to c.1960.
Barq’s Root Beer was originally bottled in Biloxi, Mississippi. This advertisement was created in 1955. Mississippi Encyclopedia.
The National Guard worked to clean up the debris after the destruction caused by Hurricane Camille in 1969. National Guard.

Military Experience

Howard Cody enlisted in the cadet training program at the University of Southern Mississippi on February 13, 1954. After boot camp, he was sent to a flight training program at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas. His letters to his “folks” expressed his extreme homesickness. Short and sweet, he ended almost every letter with “write back.”

A little over a year later, Cody was commissioned as a second lieutenant and pilot on May 16, 1955. The next several years were spent working in transport. 

After flight school, Cody was stationed at Brookley Air Force Base in Mobile, Alabama. From here, he moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where he was stationed at Otis Air Force Base around 1958. His family remained stateside while he was stationed in Iceland with Air Rescue. While there, he participated in the rescue of a Norwegian ship, Polar Bjorn, off the coast of Greenland. For this effort, he was awarded the Norwegian Medal of Valor.

In 1961, the family moved to Stewart Air Force Base in Newburgh, New York, and again in 1962 to Hurlburt Field at Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. There, he began to fly an A-36, a dive bomber, as a member of the 612th Tactical Fighter Squadron. 

Vietnam

In the summer of 1963, Cody volunteered to be a flying advisor in Vietnam. President John F. Kennedy sent troops as advisors to support the South Vietnamese fighting the Viet Cong. He told his wife before he took off, “not to worry,” and that he would “be home soon.”  In Vietnam, he was stationed at Vien Hoa and served as a captain with the 1st Air Commando Squadron, 34th Tactical Group, 13th Air Force. Cody, age 29, was scheduled to rotate home in nine days and had been grounded. After a short furlough, his next orders would have taken him to Panama to serve as an instructor. He had ordered a language course on audio tape to learn Spanish for this next assignment.

Myrna traveled with Cody’s parents to see him graduate from Flight School in Lubbock, Texas, 1954. Courtesy of Rhonda Cody.
Cody walking into a facility in his military uniform. Courtesy of Rhonda Cody.
Cody wearing his Air Force dress uniform. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Cody outside of his barracks in Bien Hoa, Vietnam, 1963. Courtesy of Rhonda Cody.

Commemoration

Final Flight

Two days after President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Captain Howard Cody was killed in Vietnam.

On November 24, 1963, Cody boarded a B-26 bomber (tail number 44-35703) with two other crew members: First Lieutenant Atis K. Lielmanis, his navigator, and an unnamed Vietnamese crewman. Their mission was to support ground operations fighting the Viet Cong near Ca Mau, about 160 miles southwest of Saigon.

Daring as ever, Cody flew into the danger and pressed the attacking Viet Cong to reveal the positions of their guns so that other planes could target the enemy’s artillery, but he took damage. On his final pass, he was barraged by enemy fire and lost control of the aircraft. First Lieutenant Lielmanis and the Vietnamese crewman ejected, but Cody did not. 

The plane crashed near Ca Mau, Vietnam. The next day, Lielmanis’s body was found along with partial, identifiable remains of the other crewman. Cody’s remains were not recovered. Local flooding postponed further searches at the time.

Cody’s Family

Cody’s wife, Myrna, and their three children were living in Fort Walton, Florida, at the time of the crash. His daughter recalled coming home from Sunday School when a friend ran up and told them that their father was missing. 

After he was declared Killed in Action, 26-year-old Myrna and her children returned to the two-bedroom home in Long Beach, Mississippi, that they owned. She went to work and tried to create a sense of normalcy for her children. 

Cody’s parents lived nearby. Papa Cody was a constant presence and source of support in the lives of his grandchildren. He lived to be 72, and Mildred to 85. Cody’s parents never gave up hope in a miracle that he or his remains would be returned to them. After their passing, Myrna picked up the torch and continued to reach out to elected officials, the Pentagon, and anyone else who might bring her beloved home; the search continues today.

Myrna rarely spoke with her children about their father, but he truly was never far from her thoughts. She posted regularly about him on social media until her death in September 2024. 

Legacy

Cody’s accomplishments were recognized in several ways. Cody’s legacy lives on today in a street name near Fort Walton, where he was stationed. At Keelser Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, Cody Hall is the largest academic building on the base. These places ensure that his bravery will forever be remembered. Captain Rudolph Howard Cody’s name is also memorialized on the Honolulu Memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, and on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on panel 01E, line 035.

Myrna Cody was included in the dedication for Cody Hall at Kessler Air Force Base. Here she is unveiling his photograph for the building’s dedication. Courtesy of Rhonda Cody.
When the building was dedicated in honor of their father, the Cody children toured the facility. Courtesy of Rhonda Cody.
Howard Cody is remembered at the Honolulu Memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.
This letter, dated May 27, 1993, is part of a family collection of over 200 documents related to the search for Cody’s remains. This was one of many communications that provided no additional information beyond what the family had received in November 1963. Rhonda Cody.

Bibliography

Bibliography: 

Primary Sources

“April Warfront: Tunisia and Generals Who Lead Offensive.” The Waterbury Democrat [Waterbury, CT], March 30, 1943. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014085/1943-03-30/ed-1/seq-18/.

Biloxi, Mississippi. Map. 1969. AA Roads. https://www.aaroads.com/mississippi/ms-gulf-coast/. 

Cody, Howard. Letters to his Parents During Flight Training. 1954-1955. Courtesy of Rhonda Cody. 

Cody, Howard. Individual Deceased Personnel File, Department of the National Archives. Courtesy of Rhonda Cody. 

Cody Family Records. 1932-2005. Courtesy of Rhonda Cody. 

Cody, Rhonda. Email interview with the author. December 17, 2024.

Cody, Rhonda. Personal interview with the author. February 25, 2025.

“Exposed Borders Of Vietnam Post Problem.” The Daily News of the Virgin Islands. [St. Thomas, VI], March 22, 1963. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025327/1963-03-22/ed-1/seq-2/.

Gulfport and Biloxi. Map. 1970. AA Roads. https://www.aaroads.com/mississippi/ms-gulf-coast/. 

Howard Rudolph Cody. U.S., Vietnam War Military Casualties, 1956-1998. https://ancestryclassroom.com. 

“Nations Negroes See Kennedy Martyred to Their Cause.” Jackson Advocate [Jackson, MS), November 30, 1963. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn79000083/1963-11-30/ed-1/seq-1/. 

New York. Richmond County. 1940 U.S. Census. Digital images. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

New York. Richmond County. 1950 U.S. Census. Digital images. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

“Preliminary Report Hurricane Camille.” U.S. Department of Commerce. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/TCR-1969Camille.pdf.

“U.S. Picked Right Ally To Stand Against Reds.” The Daily News of the Virgin Islands. [St. Thomas, VI], March 18, 1963. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025327/1963-03-18/ed-1/seq-2/.

Secondary Sources

Barbosa, Teddy. “What’s in a name: Cody Hall.” Keesler Air Force Base. Updated May 31, 2017. Accessed April 11, 2025. https://www.2af.aetc.af.mil/News/Features/Display/Article/1202135/whats-in-a-name-cody-hall/. 

Boirum, Ralph. Vietnam Through My Eyes. Outskirts Press, 2024.

“Barq’s Pop Factory.” Discover Biloxi. Accessed January 22, 2025. https://discover.biloxi.ms.us/barqs-pop-factory/

Boehm, Bill. “Hurricane Camille – Joint National Guard response to huge 1969 storm.” National Guard. Updated August 15, 2014. Accessed January 16, 2025. https://www.nationalguard.mil/News/Article/576318/hurricane-camille-joint-national-guard-response-to-huge-1969-storm/.

“Capt Howard Rudolph Cody.” Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Accessed February 1, 2025. https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000KY7lEAG. 

“Captain Howard Rudolph Cody.” Find a Grave. Accessed November 1, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/503493/howard-rudolph-cody.

Gulfport High School (Mississippi) Class of 1960. Accessed February 15, 2025. https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ghs60/genealogy/index.html. 

Gulfport Historical Society Website. Accessed January 20, 2025. http://www.historicalsocietyofgulfport.org/dr-felix-henry-dunn.html. 

“History of Keesler Airforce Base.” Keesler Airforce Base. Accessed January 10, 2025. https://www.keesler.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/360538/history-of-keesler-air-force-base/.

“Howard Rudolph Cody.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Accessed November 1, 2024. https://weremember.abmc.gov/#!/details?id=298232. 

“Howard Rudolph Cody.” The Wall of Faces, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Accessed December 12, 2025. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/9637/HOWARD-R-CODY/page/3/.

McGehee, Margaret T. “Barq’s Root Beer.” Mississippi Encyclopedia. Updated April 27, 2018. Accessed March 18, 2025. https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/barqs-root-beer/. 

Rogers, Robert W. “A History of the Meat Packing and Processing Industry in Mississippi.” Hattiesburg History. Accessed February 1, 2025. https://www.oocities.org/hattiesburg_history/meat_packing.html. 

“Vietnam War 50th Year Commemoration.” U.S. Army. Accessed October 18, 2024. https://www.army.mil/vietnamwar/history.html. 

Weist, Andrew. The Vietnam War: 1956-75. Essential Histories, 2022.

This profile was researched and created through the Researching Silent Heroes program, sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission.