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| Sgt. Richard Bowler was a waist gunner in the 100th Bombardment Group. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/91593303/richard-e-bowler |
Richard E. Bowler never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Announcement: Later this month we will be starting a project that will result in the stories of all 400,000 plus of the World War 2 fallen at one online location. There will be an accompanying smart phone app to allow users visiting any war memorial to scan the fallen serviceman's name and be linked to his story. Watch this blog or join the WW2 Fallen 100 Facebook page to learn of upcoming details.
Richard was born on January 27, 1920 in Fort Worth, Texas. His parents James and Helen were born in Pennsylvania and Nebraska, respectively. His father worked as a coupling factory machinist in Pennsylvania. Richard had an older sister and a younger sister. By 1940 Richard was still living at home. He had completed four years of high school and found work as a welder.
He was drafted into the army in October 1941. At some point he volunteered to serve in the Army Air Forces and ended up a sergeant and waist gunner in the 350th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, which was equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses. The 100th BG starting flying missions from Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk in late June 1943.
On August 17, 1943 Sgt. Bowler filled in for a waist gunner who was injured. His bomber was shot up while part of a bombing mission targeting Regensburg, Germany. He was wounded and although was able to parachute out of the plane, was probably dead by the time he made it to the ground.
His grave is at Saint Brigids Cemetery in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
More details about Sgt. Bowler can be found here: https://100thbg.com/index.php?option=com_bombgrp&view=personnel&id=468&Itemid=122&fbclid=IwAR2EakB2PEcl4r-BdX_eOktxW9wY8THYpaCKo_jKwJwV_uIjTCRqFjowKkw
Last year on this date I profiled Guadalcanal fallen William Ford, USS Cushing. You can read about William here.
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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