Howard L. Gerlach was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating high school. In 1962 Gerlach was selected for a full scholarship under the NROTC program. After graduating from Ole Miss he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He served as a rifle platoon leader in Vietnam before being wounded. After recovering, he was later sent for a second tour in Vietnam as a senior advisor to a Vietnamese infantry battalion.
Gerlach was able to return to Ole Miss on assignment as the NROTC Marine Officer Instructor and was promoted to the rank of major in 1975.
Gerlach’s final active duty assignment was to the Second Marine Division where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. There he assumed command of 1st Battalion 8th Marines, which was deployed in May 1983 on a peacekeeping mission in Beirut, Lebanon. On October 23, 1983, their headquarters building was attacked by a suicide truck bomber. The bomb leveled the building and killed 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers and wounded approximately 80 more. Among many other injuries, Gerlach’s most serious was to his spinal cord, which required nine months of recovery and rehabilition.
He retired from the Marine Corps in 1985 and started a new career in 1986, mainly in acquisition and logistics. He first served as a federal contractor and later as a civil servant at Headquarters Marine Corps and the Defense Logistics Agency. He retired in 2008.
Gerlach and his wife, Patty, have two children and two grandchildren.