Howard Seeshaf was born on July 23, 1922 and was from New York.
On April 8, 1950, he was a crew member on the US Navy PB4Y-2 (BuNo 59645) “Turbulent Turtle”. On April 8, 1950, Soviet Lavochkin La-11 fighters shot down theis US Navy PB4Y-2 Privateer (BuNo 59645) over the Baltic Sea, off the coast of Liepāja, Latvia.
The privateer was a World War II and Korean War era patrol bomber of the United States Navy derived from the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. Named the “Turbulent Turtle, the aircraft was assigned to Patrol Squadron 26 (VP-26), Det A. In addition to other types of missions, privateers were used by the US Navy for signals intelligence (SIGINT) flights off of the coast of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China.
The crew was reported missing in action on April 9, 1950 in the Baltic Sea, 80 miles southeast of Libau, Latvia. Below are the names of the ten sailors, including CT3 Edward J. Purcell, from the Naval Security Group that were on PB4Y-2 Privateer, flight 59645.

CT3 Edward Purcell
AT1 Frank L. Beckman
AL3 Joseph J. Bourassa
ENS Tommy L. Burgess
AD 1 Joseph H. Danens
LT John H. Fette
CT3 Edward J. Purcell
LTJG Robert D. Reynolds
AN Joseph N. Rinnier
LT Howard W. Seeschaf
AD 1 Jack W. Thomas

Each of the crew members were posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
None of the crew were recovered and are considered “lost at sea”. The crew are commemorated at the American Battle Monuments Commission list of Missing form the Korean War.