Explore a park: Howrey Field Park

This article is part of our Explore a Park series on parks in the Annandale/Mason District area. The most recent article in this series covered Annandale Community Park. Previous articles are listed on the Parks page.

Howrey Field Park, a small park in Annandale has just four athletic fields and a memorial in recognition of a tragic accident that happened there decades ago.

Features: Three baseball fields sponsored by the Annandale-North Springfield Little League, a grassy field with one goal post, two porta-potties, and a memorial to the six young soldiers killed when they were accidentally electrocuted while installing a flagpole.

A 1979 graphic in the Fairfax County Park Authority’s Master Plan archives shows a playground and a building with restrooms and a concession stand. Those were never built. 

Access: The park entrance is at 5100 Glen Park Road, just off Braddock Road. There’s an asphalt trail leading to Wakefield Chapel Road and Canterbury Woods Park. Howrey Park is adjacent to the Glen Park Heights townhouse community.

History: On June 1, 1967, a 14-man detail from an engineering unit stationed at Fort Belvoir was assigned to prepare Howrey Park for baseball season. As they raised a 45-foot steel flagpole, it fell onto overhead electric wires. The accident sent 7,200 volts down the shaft, killing six of the soldiers.

Related story: Annandale resident seeks more recognition for memorial to tragic accident that claimed the lives of six soldiers

Each of the three baseball fields is named for two of the victims: Pvt. Paul Briggs, Pvt. Anthony Evans, Pfc. Marvin Harrison, Pvt. Charles Oliver, Spec. Kenneth Steiner, and Pvt. Charles Whaley. They were all from different states. Three of them were just 17 years old, and the oldest was 20.

The Park Authority had put up a plaque listing their names, and Terry Powers, a retired Army officer who lives in the nearby Ravensworth Farm neighborhood, pushed the county to do more.

There is now a fenced-in memorial with a display about the victims, two flags, two benches, and plantings. Powers co-founded a nonprofit group, the Friends of Soldiers Memorial Fields at Howrey Park, to maintain the site and memorialize the soldiers.

On June 8, 2021, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors adopted a proclamation calling for June 1 to be designated Soldiers of Howrey Field Day.

The friends group held the first annual memorial ceremony on June 1, 2022. The 2023 ceremony included a color guard, the national anthem, remarks by the Braddock supervisor, and a wreath-laying by Boy Scouts.