Dearest Isabel

Letters From an Enlisted Man in World War II

Sidney Bowen, a resident of Muscatine, Iowa, served in the US military during World War II (A Battery, 494th AAA Battalion), the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. This book, published by Sunflower University Press in 1992, is a collection of letters from Sidney Bowen to his wife Isabel, written between 1943 and 1945. The letters offer a firsthand account of the life of an army soldier, from his initial enlistment to his discharge.

Sydney Bowen served in England, France and Belgium, like millions of others in World War Two. What he did that was different, was to write a blizzard of letters back to his wife Isabel, that revealed an observing eye, a perceptive mind and a storytelling knack.

click on the images to enlarge

T/5 Sidney Bowen

A Battery - 494th AAA Gun Battalion

Sidney Bowen was born on July 31, 1910, in Muscatine, Iowa, to Prudence Sarah Goody and Leonard Bowen. He completed pre-medical school and then failed academically in his second year in the Collega of Medicine, Univercity of Iowa. Qualifying as a Railway Mail Clerk, he travelled between Port Huron, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois. He married Isabel D. Hafner in September 1941. They had one child during their marriage.

Sidney Bowen was drafted, #36679957, in the Army on August 9, 1943. He took his basic training with the 511th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Training Corps at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts. Sidney served in the European Theatre of Operations with A Battery, 494th Anti-aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion. On November 2, 1944 Sidney Bowen and the 494th AAA Gn Bn arrived in Putte, as part of operation 'Antwerp X'. After the war, he was honorably discharged on September 28, 1945.

After his discharghe, he returned to the Postal Service, and served in progressive assignments in the transportation of the U.S. Mails. At the outset of the Korean Crisis, Sidney Bowen enlisted in the California National Guard. At the conclusion of the Korean War, he transferred to the United States Army Reserves and remained there in a ready status throughout the Vietnam War. In 1969 he retired as a Transportation Research Officer with 33 years postal service. He retired from military services as a Chief Warrent Officer in 1971, after 20 creditable years in the Army, National Guard, and Army Reserves.

In 1990 Sidney and Isabel celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary and resided in Mountain View, California. His wife Isabel D. Bowen died on September 9, 1996, in Davis, California, at the age of 88. Sidney Bowen died on April 21, 2000, in Davis, California, at the age of 89.