Frank Bowman

The database page for Frank Bowman

03 Oct 2002 REMEMBERED by a fellow "swift boat" sailor, Terry Boone mtboone@aol.com

25 May 2004 REMEMBERED by his cousin, Dorothy Bowman Goff 328 Pulis Rd, Walterboro, S. C. 29488 E-Mail will be forwarded by the Webmaster@VirtualWall.org

16 Jun 2007 Being remembered today and every day. From a friend. 16 Jun 2008 Remembered and honored. From someone who wears his MIA Bracelet. E-Mail will be forwarded by the Webmaster@VirtualWall.org

Notes from The Virtual Wall On the night of 16 June 1968, PCF-19 was cruising on a routine patrol offshore northern South Vietnam. A sudden explosion rocked, then sunk, the small ship. Four of its crewmen were lost that night: QM2 Frank Bowman, Walterboro SC; body not recovered BM2 Anthony G. Chandler, Warner Robbins GA; body not recovered EN2 Edward C. Cruz, Inarajan Guam; GMC2 Billy S. Armstrong, West Helena AR; Lieutenant (junior grade) John Davis, who commanded PCF-19, and crewman John Anderegg were the only two survivors. Anderegg had kept Bowman's head above water until he determined that Bowman was dead; he then turned his attention to the badly wounded Davis. There was no certainty about how it happened - some said the PCF was attacked by North Vietnamese helicopters while others believed that a friendly aircraft had attacked the boat by accident. Eventually the US Air Force concluded that one of its aircraft had attacked the swift boat, believing it to be a North Vietnamese PT boat - a "friendly fire" incident. What was certain was that four men had died, and that two had not been recovered. On 6 October 1993, an armbone fragment was recovered from a grave ashore; a Vietnamese fisherman stated that he had recovered the bone and buried it. It was almost 8 years before the fragment could be positively identified through DNA testing, but once done there was another certainty: Tony Chandler had come home. All that remained of Petty Officer Chandler was buried in the Centerville (Georgia) City Cemetery on 16 June 2001 - a sailor finally home from the sea. Petty Officer Frank Bowman, though, has not come home.

The point-of-contact for this memorial is one who remembers, Terry Boone mtboone@aol.com

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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 3 Oct 2002
Last updated 07/25/2008