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| Pvt. Ernest Bowden served with an engineering battalion assigned to the 3rd Armored Division. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71591632/ernest-l-bowden https://www.pinterest.com/pin/844776842572341265/?lp=true |
Ernest L. Bowden never had a chance to reach 100 years old. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Last year I was not able to write a profile everyday from September to November because I was studying for the Certified Financial Planner test (I passed!). I feel my project to honor one U.S. serviceman for each day of the war would be incomplete if I left them off. As I have time, I am going back and adding profiles for the days I missed.
Ernest was born on September 7, 1918 in Pageland, South Carolina. His parents Willie and Dula were also both born in South Carolina. His father worked as a farmer. He died in 1923 of appendicitis. Ernest had one younger brother. His mother remarried Rit Jenkins, a rock quarry laborer, who had two children from a prior marriage. They had three more children.
He enlisted in the army in April 1942. He served as a private in Company A, 1252nd Engineer Combat Battalion, attached to the the 3rd Armored Division (nicknamed "Spearhead"). The 3rd Armored began fighting in Normandy in early July 1944. It was part of the 1st Army and after the breakout from Normandy, reached Belgium by early September. It fought in the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge. It captured Cologne and fought its final battle at Dessau in later April 1945. I am not sure if Pvt. was with the 3rd Armored for all of this, but his enlistment date is early enough to suggest that he very likely was there from the start to finish.
The war in Germany officially ended on May 8, 1945. Pvt. Bowden was accidentally wounded by a gunshot and died on May 14, 1945.
His grave is at Providence Baptist Church Cemetery in Chesterfield, South Carolina.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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