At the age of 100, Howard Bach still plays the harmonica and remembers the day he met famed bank robber Willie Sutton – who happened to be half-naked at the time. Bach joined the police force in 1948 after serving as a US sailor for four years on the USS Mississippi in the Pacific during World War II. He retired from the NYPD in 1978 after 30 years on the job. Detectives Endowment Association President Scott Munro honored Bach for his life of service at the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Long Island last month.
Born on July 4, 1924, Bach grew up in Queens and was a strong swimmer by the age of eight. He once saved another child from drowning and received a rowboat as a gift, which he marked “PD” for the Police Department he dreamed of joining one day. His daughter, Karen Clinton, said Bach always wanted to be a police officer.
Howard and his wife Dolores had three sons and three daughters. Two of their sons served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam but have since passed away. Bach’s third son, a retired federal agent, and his daughters look out for their dad, Clinton said. Bach was repeatedly recognized by the department for his police work in letters that his daughter saved.
In one letter, dated December 13, 1948, Bach was praised for nabbing an armed robber who had assaulted and held up a Brooklyn hardware store owner. Bach heard the man’s calls for help, then chased the bandit down. His quick thinking led to his promotion from foot patrolman to detective in just six months.
Bach helped solve numerous cases throughout his career, including a Queens case where a man killed a woman in her cellar and then threw her body into the furnace. He managed to get a confession, leading to the murderer’s imprisonment.
He will always remember meeting Sutton, the most notorious bank robber in American History. When asked why he robbed banks, Sutton famously replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” Bach’s partner arrested Sutton in 1952 in Brooklyn. He missed out on the arrest because he was at the store, but he met the notorious criminal when he returned to the 78th Precinct stationhouse. Sutton had just been strip searched and asked Bach to help him put his pants back on.
He was a very nice man, you know, a very kind man,” Bach recalled of Sutton. He never killed anybody or anything like that.
Bach said he is proud of his years of service in the NYPD. I just had that calling,” he said. I figured it was a good job and it turned out to be a good job.
