VW-Obit-BOWMAN, Leslie V. - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

WALLACE ----- Mr. and Mrs. Lex V. Bowman of Wallace were notified Tuesday morning that their son, Spec. 4 Leslie V. Bowman, 20, had been killed in action in Vietnam. The parents had received a report from the Defense Department Sunday that their son had been missing since Nov. 1 when the navy vessel on which he was serving was damaged by a mine. Maj. Paul V. Valvo of Terre Haute called on the couple Tuesday morning to report that their son's body had been found and he was among the casualties in the ship explosion. The youth is Indiana's 787th Vietnam casualty. The message to the parents Sunday related that their son had been aboard an LST which was anchored at dock when a hostile mine detonated. On Nov. 1, the Associated Press reported from Saigon “. . .explosions tore open the side of the 384-foot LST Westchester County as she swung at anchor in the My Tho River 34 miles southwest of Saigon. The blasts ripped into the landing craft's sleeping compartment, killing or wounding most of the men as they slept. Other sailors were killed at their watch stations. "In addition to the 17 known dead, 22 Americans were wounded and seven Americans and one Vietnamese army interpreter were missing. Some of the latter were believed trapped in two compartments that were flooded." Spec. 4 Bowman was born Dec. 30, 1947, in Culver Hospital at Crawfordsville, the only child of Lex V. and Marie Myers Bowman. He grew up in the Wallace area and graduated in 1966 from Fountain Central High School. He then graduated from Lincoln Technical School in Indianapolis as an automotive mechanic and worked six months with the Fountain County Highway Department, where his father is employed, before being inducted into the U.S. Army. He entered the Army Nov. 21, 1967, and received his training at Ft. Knox, Ky., and Camp McClellan, Ala. After a 28-day leave which he spent with his parents he left last May 10 for duty in Vietnam. Last August he received the Combat Infantry badge for frontline duty. He was a member of the Wolf Creek Community Church. Survivors in addition to the parents are the maternal grandparents, Columbus and Jennie Myers of Rt. 1, Bloomingdale; three aunts, Mrs. Ruby Livengood of Montezuma, Mrs. Ercie Wildman of Mecca and Mrs. Bernice Smith of Indianapolis, and a foster-aunt, Mrs. Fay Welch of Rt. 1, Waveland; an uncle, Vance Myers of Rt. 1, Bloomingdale, and several cousins. He was engaged to marry Miss Kay Collins of Rt. 1 Kingman, a secretary at the Mid-States Steel and Wire Company at Crawfordsville. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at present. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman were told it would be from seven to 14 days before their son's body would be brought home.

Name: Leslie Von Bowman Birth Date: 30 Dec 1947 Death Date: 1 Nov 1968 Home City: Wallace Home State: Indiana SSN/Service #: 55945674 Death Date: 1 Nov 1968 Casualty Country: Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) Tour Start Date: 11 May 1968 Service Branch: Department of the Army Component: Selective Service Rank: Specialist Fourth Class Military Grade: Specialist Fourth Class Pay Grade: Specialist Fourth Class (U.S. Army) or Corporal (U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps) or Sergeant (U.S. Air Force) or Grade/Rate Abbreviations With First Column: Any Entry; Second Column: N; Third Column: 3; Fourth Column: Blank (U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard) or Company: B Co Regiment: 60th Inf Batallion: 3rd Bn Province: 30 Decoration: Not Available CN: Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) Service Occupation: Light Weapons Infantry (ARMY) Data Source:Coffelt Database - ancestry.com

Wallace, Ind - Services for Army Specialist 4 Leslie V. Bowman, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lex Bowman, will be at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Wolf Creek Community Church.  Spec 4 Bowman, a graduate of Fountain Central Consolidates HS and Lincoln Tech Institute Indianaplis was killed Nov. 1 near Saign when a mine exploded against a landing caft in which he was riding. Other survivors, grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Columbus Myers rural Bloomingdale.  - kbz

Leslie was a SPEC-4 Infantryman serving with the 9th Infantry Division when, on 1 Nov 1968, he along with 24 others was killed when Viet Cong sappers (frogmen) placed two high-explosive charges against the hull of the USS Westchester County LST.  Leslie's berth was reportedly directly above one of the charges.  He did not suffer.

Cousin Leslie grew up in Wallace, Indiana, not far from Deer's Mill which you have all visited.  In early November of 1968, I was half way through OCS at Fort Benning when I got the call that he had been killed in Vietnam.   One of the nicest people I have ever known.  His loss was a heart rending and devastating blow (their only child) to parents, Uncle Lex and Aunt Marie Bowman.

I am writing to you as a friend of Leslie. I came to know him when I was about 10 years old. He worked at the gas station in Wallace and I was just a kid with time to kill. He taught me a game where we pitched pennies toward a crack in the concrete and the one who came closest to the crack would take both pennies.