Who is Major John Howard from Pegasus Bridge: June 6, 1944 and what is their importance? "Pegasus_Bridge:_June_6

Major John Howard was thirty-one years old and a former regimental sergeant major and an ex-cop. He was on one of the gliders that landed in Normandy in the early hours of June 6, 1944. This would be his first time in combat and this was the first flight on which he had not experienced air sickness. He was married to Joy and had a two-year-old son and baby daughter who were living in Oxford. Howard had picked his team for the #1 glider in which they were riding. Howard led Comapny D, which basically led the way for the Allied invasion of France. Comapny D was basically functioning as an independent unit. Howard would not report to anyone or take orders from anyone until he completed his assignment. His assignment was to seize the bridges over the River Orne and the Caen canal at Benouville and Ranville and to hold them. Intelligence reports indicated that they would have little trouble capturing the bridges but would have problems holding them until the 6th Airborne arrived.