Early historians of the family made what have been called "somewhat grand claims" on his behalf: for example, that he commanded a fleet of 3,000 men out of Lowestoft to attack the French coast whilst Henry V was on campaign there.
It may well be that grandiose stories have been imagined around a simple truth; viz that Howard did indeed fight in France, but that he did so alongside his brother-in-law and regional magnate, John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, who indeed spent much of his career doing precisely that.
Further, in November 1428, as the duke sailed up the River Thames to Westminster, his barge rammed a pier under London Bridge; Mowbray lost several members of his household in this accident.
Howard's father outlived him, although only by a year; having set out[clarification needed] for the Holy Land on crusade, he reached Jerusalem but died there on 17 November 1437.
[13] John was to be a prominent retainer for the third duke of Norfolk,[14] and when civil war broke out less than twenty years later, he was to play a leading role as one of the House of York's firmest supporters.