| Honorific Prefix: | Captain |
| Richard Herbert Howe | |
| Honorific Suffix: | MBE MC |
| Birth Date: | 21 June 1912 |
| Death Date: | c. 1 June 1981 (aged 68) |
| Birth Place: | Arecife, Brazil |
| Death Place: | Royal Tunbridge Wells, England |
| Allegiance: |  United Kingdom |
| Rank: | Captain |
| Battles: | World War II |
| Awards: | MBE Military Cross |
Captain Richard Herbert Howe (21 June 1912 – c. 1 June 1981) was a British army officer during World War II.[1] [2] He was captured by the Germans in 1940 and eventually held in Oflag IV-C, at Colditz Castle, where he served as Escape Officer from 1942 to 1945.[1] He organised many escapes including eight successful home runs of British officers.[1]
Lt. Col. Moran of the Colditz Association described him as 'an outstanding chap, the soul of Colditz. In a crisis he was the most calm individual and he had enormous reserves of will power'.[3]
Richard Herbert Howe was born on 21 June 1912 in Brazil, the son of Charles Herbert Howe and Ethyl Jeannie Maud Howe (née Nichols).[4] He was educated at Bedford Modern School between 1920 and 1930.[1] [5]
Howe served as a lance corporal on the Officers' Training Corps at Bedford and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Tank Corps on 13 May 1933. After a short period of time with the Royal Tank Corps, he worked in radio manufacturing for Kolster-Brandes Limited, A.C. Cossor Limited and Truphonic Radio Limited.[6] At the outbreak of World War II he rejoined the 3rd Battalion Royal Tank Regiment.[6]
In 1940, Howe was serving in the British Expeditionary Force, as a lieutenant, and temporary captain, in the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, when he was awarded the Military Cross while defending troops evacuating Calais.[1] [7]
After being captured following the Siege of Calais, he was imprisoned at Oflag VII-C at Laufen. Howe was one of six British officers who escaped, but were eventually recaptured. Howe and the rest of the "Laufen Six" — Harry Elliott, Rupert Barry (later Sir Rupert Barry), Pat Reid, Anthony "Peter" Allan and Kenneth Lockwood — were then sent to Colditz.[8] Howe later replaced Reid as Escape Officer, co-ordinating all escape plans, after Reid himself escaped in October 1942. He organised many escapes including eight successful home runs of British officers.[1]
Howe remained a prisoner until the end of the war, but his efforts were recognized by being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in June 1946. Howe died in hospital in Tunbridge Wells, Kent in 1981.[1]