Can you post a little of what you know about James Bowman?
"Can you post a little of what you know about James Bowman?"
He was a hard-luck kid from a family who could barely afford to feed him. My dad was a coal miner at the time, barely getting by, and raising my oldest brother by himself.
He took Jimmy in.
I don't know how long he lived with them but I have 5 or 6 letters to my father from him and my fathers last letter to him returned with an MIA stamp on it. My father was very concerned about him in that letter because he had been in heavy combat and dad was giving him all kinds of advice. My brother, who had a lot of losses in his life, could barely speak about it.
Jimmy served in the occupation army in Japan. He sent my father some gifts from Japan which were two laquered boxes stamped "made in occupied Japan" which are collectibles. Unfortunately they were sold when my father died as part of his estate. He did some stockade time while he was there for some kind of shenanigans. I don't remember why I know that. Maybe my father told me.
He didn't say too much in the letters except to thank my father for his friendship and he made some comments about a boxing match he heard on the radio. As I remember it, it was Floyd Patterson. This is before August 1951. He got in it early and lasted until Chosin.