April 19, 2018 – James Lee Bowers (also known as “Bill”) was born May 30, 1926 at home in Yarrowsburg, Maryland, just down the road from Boonsboro. He lived there until 1966 when he moved to S. Main Street in Boonsboro, where lived until his death on October 22, 2018. His father worked on the railroad and his mother didn’t have access to a car, so he and his six siblings didn’t get to go many places growing up, including even to Boonsboro. His maternal grandfather was born on a canal boat at Point of Rocks, Maryland because that side of the family worked and lived on the C&O Canal. His paternal grandfather came from Ireland.
Much of Jim’s story is about his service in the military during World War II – what it was like for he and his friends being drafted as a high school student just 3 years into attending Boonsboro High School and what happened to him as part of the 83rd Infantry 
Division.
His basic training was cut short and there wasn’t time for more training so he was sent directly to the front lines just after Christmas 1944. He landed in Liverpool, England. With freezing water halfway up their legs, they crossed the English Channel and got off near LeHavre, France. Carrying a 90 pound pack on his 123 pound frame, he scrambled up the hill toward Camp Lucky Strike. Next he rode a train in a dark cattle car with hay on the ground with 40 other guys to the front lines. During his service, he fought in Belgium, France, Austria and Poland, arriving in Germany a short time after D-Day. His unit, dubbed The Spearhead, was the first to get to the Rhine River.
When he came home, he started working at the B&O railroad, where he worked for 35 years. Due to a fire in St. Louis in 1973 at the National Personnel Records Center, Jim had to wait until 2006 to receive his long overdue Bronze Star. Despite his heroism and sacrifice, he doesn’t believe he did anything to deserve it. He spent much of his remaining days, in his 90s, at home studying the “the Good Book” as he called it.
*Periodic commentary is from Bud Price, a friend of Jim’s who helped arrange the interview and who is also a veteran.
James Lee Bowers
