Personnel

Marvin S. Bowman, was S-2, Combat Intelligence Officer, of the 100th Bomb Group (H), Eighth Air Force, in England, from 1943-45, and took part in the shuttle flight to Russia described in this article. He also served in World War I, in the US Air Service, spending six months overseas with the AEF. He retired from the Air Force Reserves in 1955 as a lieutenant colonel. He had an extensive career in journalism, including work with the Associated Press, the Boston Post, the Boston Herald, the Los Angeles Herald, the San Antonio Light, and the Boston Sunday Advertiser. Bowman passed away on December 19, 1976.





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Biographical information from the Harvard Alumni Bulletin:



BORN at Somerville, Mass., Dec. 30, 1895. Son of Rev. John Eliot and Charly (Root) Bowman.

PREPARED at Vermont Academy, Saxtons

River, Vermont.

YEARS IN COLLEGE: 1912-14.

WAR SERVICE: Enlisted, Sept., 1917, Field Artillery; transferred Feb., 1918, to Air Service Ground School, Cornell; flying training, Dallas, Tex.; Mt. Clemens, Mich.; Mineola, N. Y.; commissioned 2nd Lieut.

Air Service, and sent overseas in August, 1918; toured France at the sweet will of G. HI. Q. and finished the war as instructor at 7th

A. I. C., Clermont-Ferrand; discharged Feb. 4, 1919, at Garden City, L. I.

MARRIED: Helen A. Dodge, at Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 19, 1916. CHILD:

Marvin 8., Jr., born April 4, 1921.

OCCUPATION: News Editor, Boston Sunday Advertiser.

ADDRESS: (home) 186 Elmwood Ave., Wollaston, Mass.; (business)

80 Summer St., Boston, Mass.



Left college after second year, not at request of U-4, but with praiseworthy ambition of earning the three squares daily. Started in with the Boston office of Associated Press, remaining there a year or more, and them shook off the dust of Boston for Nashua, N. H., and spent many miserable months as THE reporter of the local sheet. Went to the Boston Post and managed to evade the famous axe for quite a bit. When it fell I graduated to the Herald as reporter and rewrite man, holding down the rewrite desk for twelve months. About this time committed matrimony. Early in 1917, transferred to the old Boston Daily Advertiser and stayed as make-up and desk-man until the war came along.



After seven months as a buck in Field Artillery, I donned the classic white hatband which denotes the purity of the Air Service, and became what was technically known as a "flying janitor"-otherwise cadet. Charley Guild, '17, and Duncan of the same class suffered with me at the Cornell ground school, which was a mean place, with sheets and real mattresses tough after the army. Got to be top kick of the outfit, and in this capacity herded 54 future aces from Cornell to Dallas, Tex. singlehanded. Outfit sober from Oklahoma south. After a sojourn at Camp Dick we descended upon Selfridge Field, Mt. Clemens, Mich., for flying training. (Brainerd Hull was killed at this field in an air collision later.) Them to Garden City, where commissions for the bunch arrived twenty-four hours ahead of overseas orders. We left New York flat on its back and sailed aboard the transport President Grant, landing at Brest. St. Maxient, Cler-mont-Ferrand and divers other places received us kindly for the next seven months. When the Armistice came I was instructing at the 7th A. I. C., a day bombardment school. Home and out on Feb. 4, 1919.



Wandered into the University Union one day, sought out the Harvard room, and addressed a few choice expressions in French to a French artillery Lieutenant who was holding down an armchair. Turned out to be Barnes, who used to sleep with me in French 6, under the soothing tones of Louis Allard.

My business is getting out the daily prints, of course slipping in as much as possible of Fred Allen's publicity from U4; and my hobby is helping the Fleischmann Yeast Company through the hard times.

Member: Revere Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Boston; Mt. Wollaston Royal Arch Chapter, Wollaston.

MARVIN SOMERSETT BOWMAN

WW 1 service courtesy of Jean Toulouse

Second Lieutenant, A.S.A., U.S.A., Seventh Aviation Instruction Centre, A.E.F.



Son of Rev. John Elliot and Charly (Root) Bowman; was born at Somerville, Mass., Dec. 30, 189,5. He was educated at Vermont Academy, Saxtons River, Vt., and at Harvard College, where he remained for two years with the class of 1916. Prior to his entry into the U.S. Service he was a member of the staff of the Boston Evening Record.



He enlisted in Boston, Aug., 1917, as private in the 301st Field Artillery. In Feb., 1918, he was transferred to the Air Service, and trained at the Ground School, Cornell, at Dallas, Tex., and at Selfridge Field, Mich. He sailed overseas in Aug., 1918, and was stationed at Brest, St.-Maixent, and at Clermont-Ferrand. He was commissioned 2d Lieut., A.S.A., July 30, 1918, and was made a member of the instruction staff of the 7th A.I.C., ClermontFerrand, France.





In the following communication he has graphically described the spirit of the French toward the American aviators, who have given their lives in France:



Perhaps you know that a ship always flies overhead to escort the procession to the grave and then drops flowers from the air. There is something very impressive about this, the big ships circling overhead and leading the way to the grave. Seems like the Spirit of the Game welcoming one of its followers. Then a little service by the padre, a flutter of petals from the air as the ships swoop down to ten feet from the ground — three volleys and then “Taps.” That bugle call sure gets a man. The point of the story is this: In that pouring rain there were nearly fifty French kids and women hard at work shaping the graves, patting them down, edging them with sod and covering the whole cemetery with flowers from God knows where. There was n’t a grave in the place that was n’t hidden from sight by blossoms. And they do this every day and have been doing it for months. And believe me, they will keep on doing it for a hundred years. The French never forget. At the cemetery gate they have erected a monument with laurel wreaths and the inscription:



“Aux soldats americains; morts pour la France, pour la Justice, le Droit et l'Honneur du monde; Honneur aux Braves.”



Lieut. Bowman was honorably discharged at Garden City, N.Y., Feb. 4, 1919.



Married, Dec. 19, 1916, Helen A. Dodge, of Cambridge, Mass.