When Howard Edwards Hawkinson was born on October 30, 1887, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, his father, Francis, was 31 and his mother, Adelaide, was 33. He had one brother and three sisters. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I as a Captain in Company I, 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action on October 8, 1918 and is now buried in Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Departement de la Meuse, Lorraine, France. His name is commemorated on the First Infantry Division monument in Saint-Juvin, France but his name's middle initial is inscribed as F. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and cites as follows:
Howard Edwards Hawkinson, Captain 28th Infantry, 1st Division
Near Exermont, France, Oct. 4, 1918
Although suffering intense pain from a gunshot wound in the leg which had not healed, he led the regimental assault battalion, of which he was in command, in the attack on that day. Forging ahead of his lines with his staff in darkness and fog, he suddenly came upon a German detachment to the rear of which there were 2 machine guns which immediately opened fire. Despite surprise, courageously exposing himself, he advanced intrepidly on the nest with utter disregard for personal safety, firing his pistol, wounding some of the crew and falling, mortally wounded, when only 10 yards from the pit from which the fire was directed.
Posthumously awarded. Medal presented to mother, Mrs. Adelaide N. Hawkinson.