Private Donald W. Bowen

World War II US Army 16th Infantry Regiment Service Number: 39579350 Born: May 30, 1918 Inducted: March 22, 1944 Killed in action January 19th, 1945 in Belgium Buried: Green Mountain Cemetery, Boulder, Colorado

Son of Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Bowen of Boulder (formerly of Eckley). Husband of Jean Taylor Bowen of Boulder.

Boulder - January 1945

Donald W. Bowen Killed in Action Jan. 19, Belgium
Was Called Into Service by Boulder Board Last March

Pvt. Donald W. Bowen, son of Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Bowen, North 26th street, and husband of Jean Taylor Bowen, 425 Arapahoe avenue, was killed in action in Belgium Jan. 19, according to word received Monday afternoon by his wife from the war department.

The last letter received from Pvt. Bowen was dated Jan. 2. He stated that his company had gone back into action in Belgium before Christmas after a very short rest period in a rest camp there. They had previously been stationed in Germany. All day Christmas was spent in fighting, he said, as the enemy would not give them a minute's rest.

Pvt. Bowen had previously been awarded the Oak Leaf Cluster for gallantry in battle, and the company had been awarded the Presidential citation.

Pvt. Bowen was called into service by the Boulder draft board March 22, 1944, while he was employed by the Lockheed Corp., in Burbank, Calif. He answered his call there and was taken from Fort MacArthur, Long Beach. All of his training was taken at Camp Hood, Texas. Before leaving on the overseas assignment, he was in Boulder on furlough, leaving here Sept. 4.

Married Here In '41

He and Mrs. Bowen were married here Oct. 14, 1941. They went at once to California as he had accepted the position with the Lockheed Corp. Their son, Bruce, was born in Burbank March 17, 1943.

Mrs. Bowen and the baby came to Boulder when Pvt. Bowen was inducted. After he was stationed at Camp Hood, Mrs. Bowen went to Texas and lived at Killeen most of the time while he was stationed there. The baby was with them part of the time but was with her Parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Taylor of the Arapahoe avenue address the remainder of the time. Mrs. Bowen and Bruce have been with them since he went overseas.

Native of Colorado

Pvt. Bowen was born in Eckley, May 30, 1918. Mr. and Mrs. Bowen and family moved to Boulder in 1930 and remained here three years. They then returned to Eckley where they remained until 1936 when the return move to Boulder was made. Pvt. Bowen assisted his father with the farm work on North 26th street and later engaging in tungsten mining. He and Bill West took a tungsten lease on a boulder canon mine where he worked until leaving for California.

Surviving relatives besides his wife, son and parents are two sisters, Mrs. Wilma Sutton, wife of Harry Sutton of Grand Junction, and Mrs. Marjorie Erickson, wife of Archie Erickson, S 1/C member of the Coast Guard, of Richmond, California.

Go to previous page | next page.

Return to Gold Star Veterans Listing.