Frank Bowman

Quartermaster 2nd Class
PCF-19, COASTAL DIV 12, TF-115, USNAVFORV
United States Navy
15 July 1935 - 16 June 1968
Walterboro, South Carolina
Panel 56W Line 001

USNAVFORV

TF 115
USN PCF

Purple Heart, Navy Good Conduct, National Defense, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Campaign

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: 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