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Pfc Howard G. Krapf worked in a shoe factory.

He enlisted in Allentown, Pennsylvania on 13 November 1942 and received his basic training at Camp Beale, California. He was sent overseas in July 1944.

On 11 June 2026, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that Pfc Howard G. Krapf was accounted for.

His unit participated in an attack on enemy positions during the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest. He was reported missing during the engagement, but members of his platoon later reported that at around 2 p.m. he was struck in the hand by enemy fire. The wound caused him to rise from cover, at which point he was killed by enemy machine gun fire. Circumstances of the battle prevented the recovery of his remains at the time.

In April 1948, a German demining team working in the forest west of Hürtgen found a set of unidentified remains, later designated X-7433 Neuville, which were eventually interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupré, Belgium. In July 2023, the Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission exhumed the remains and transferred them to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. There, scientists used modern forensic techniques to identify Krapf.

He was given his final resting place in the family grave at Fairview Cemetery, West Catasauqua, Pennsylvania on 21 September 2026.