Donald L. Bowman:
Born and raised in Clearfield
I joined the Marine Corps on 27Apr59 in Dubois, PA. I did my PI thing
with Platoon 219-59, and a month of infantry training at Camp Geiger.
After which I was assigned to Weapons Platoon, "G" Company,
2nd Battalion, 6th Marines for the next thirty months as both a Machine
Gunner [0331] and Assaultman[0351]...a 3.5 Rocket Launcher, which is something
the Army paid $50/month hazardous duty pay for. Marines, did it for God
and country.
After fifteen months of acquiring "salt" in our walk, the rest
of the 2nd Battalion was stripped of much of its "controlled input"
advantage when personnel with 15 months of infantry experience were transferred
to "G" for the Solant Amity good will cruise
to Africa. At that point, "G" Company was likely the most experienced
infantry company in the United States.
The next six months were extraordinary. More fire and maneuver training,
travel and experiences than could fill a fair sized notebook: Vieques,
AGAIN with great quantities of ammo, beach parties, downing every tent
in 2-2's tent city after they assaulted some "G" company personnel;
we sailed from Spain south to Cape Town, South Africa, and from the Republic
of the Congo west to Brazil. We partied, fought, provided landing demonstrations
and partied some more. All of it providing memories to reflect upon for
the rest of my life. And now I get see it all filling the pages of the
Solant Amity website.
Afterwards we returned stateside as the "saltiest" Marines at
Camp Lejeune. And we remained such for almost a year more before being
split up and reassigned.
I was initially transferred to the 1st Landing Battalion, then along with
Bob Bittner, I was RE-assigned to the 2nd Amtrac Battalion, retrained
and...being one of only
two men out of the 30 taking the course that passed...promoted, made a
crew chief and provided an Amtrac of my very own [B-0-4.] At the time
of the Cuban Crisis mount-out, an attempt was made to have me "extend"
for part of a year by suggesting I would not be able to deploy to the
Caribbean. Turning their offer down I was deployed anyway. Returning
stateside thereafter, I stayed with 2nd Amtrac...considered briefly remaining
in the Corps...but left in March 1963.
I married about year before leaving the Marine Corps and lost two daughters
to illness within 24 hours of their birth, in 1963. Their mother and I
divorced some years later. Over the many years since, I've married three
more times and have three children...a son and two daughters.
I managed since to accumulate a rather broad array of working experiences.
I worked in the coal mines for some years, lost a brother to one of them.
Then moved on to the railroad construction industry where, in working
in close proximity to the mine service areas both as a worker and foreman,
managed to acquiring black lung disease. Finally, I settled into a job
with the Teamsters as a heavy equipment operator and sales operations
manager and stayed with that until retiring in 2008.
Most of my life I've remained involved with the VFW...now a trustee and
member of the board of directors of my local chapter...and the Marine
Corps League. So, it might be said that despite my "leaving"
the Corps decades ago, a part of our connection remains intact.
And now I busy myself maintaining a substantial collection of rifles and
enjoying the good hunting to be had hereabouts. So, life is good.
It is said that “We live in extraordinary times.” Well, we
do. And, WE certainly did.
I've no email, so feel free to reach out to me at 88 Patton Street, Clearfield,
PA 16830 or by phone at (814) 765-7600.
Semper fi to all hands.
