The Thomas Dry Howie Memorial Carillon and Tower were donated to The Citadel by two alumni, Charles E. Daniel, Citadel 1918, and R. Hugh Daniel, Citadel 1929, in tribute to their friend, Major Thomas Dry Howie, the famed "Major of St. Lo," who was killed in action during World War II.

On July 18, 1944, the body of "The Major of St. Lo," laying on the hood of a jeep and draped with an American flag, preceded the men of the 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry, into the ruins of St. Lo, France. St. Lo had been the hub of a vital network of roads that Hitler had ordered be held at all costs, and the battle for the town was one of the bloodiest in the Army's history. The day before, July 17, Major Howie said to his division commander—what would become the battle cry of American troops —"I'll see you in St. Lo." Shortly afterward, during a sudden German mortar barrage, the 1929 alumnus was struck by a fragment of an exploding shell and killed.

The Citadel Carillon, a set of bronze bells attuned to intervals of the chromatic scale with a possible range of seven octaves, is one of the largest Dutch bell installations in the Western Hemisphere. It was cast at the famous Royal Bergen Bellfoundries in Heiligerlee, The Netherlands. The 59 bells, totaling 30,300 pounds in weight, vary in size from 25 pounds to the 4,400 pounds of the great Bourdon, as the lowest brass bell is called. The bells are hung in a stationary position and are played from a concert keyboard of two manuals. The carillon is equipped with a Westminster chime to strike every quarter-hour. The bell tower is 90 feet high, topping the chapel by 35 feet.

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