textbowiejimmieneal1950.html

North High School Wall of Honor
Jimmie Neal Bowie
Class of June, 1950

Research done by Claradell Shedd, Class of 1953.

Jimmie Neal Bowie

Jimmie graduated in the June, 1950 North High class. He enlisted in the US Naval Reserve in January, 1951, in Des Moines, IA. His service number was 3240335. Jimmie's next of kin was listed as Mr. James S. Bowie, 1010 19th Street, Des Moines, IA.

Jimmie Neal Bowie

Year		Rank		Status

June 9, 1950	x	Graduated	x	Graduated from North High School, Des Moines, IA.
June 9, 1950- January, 1951	x	Employed	x	Younkers; Window Display
January,1951	x	Enlisted/ US Navy Reserves	x	Enlisted in US Navy Reserves at Recruiting Office at KRNT Theater, Des Moines, IA.
January, 1951- September, 1951	x	US Navy Reserves	x	In US Naval Reserves.
September 4 , 1951	x	US Navy/ Seaman Apprentice	x	Train to Great Lakes Naval Training Center, IL; twelve weeks
Dec., 1951	x	US Navy/ Seaman Apprentice	x	Completed boot camp. On the Drill Team at Boot Camp. Special Forces, US Navy.
Dec., 1951	x	Enroute	x	Train from leave in Des Moines, IA to Los Angeles, CA. PE train to San Diego, CA.
Dec., 1951	x	Enroute	x	San Diego, CA to Long Beach, CA. Assigned to *USS Fechteler (DD-870), destroyer; US Task Force 77, 7th Fleet, Pacific Ocean
January, 1952- February, 1952	x	Stationed/ Seaman	x	72-hour pass in Los Angeles, CA. Three-day shake-down to check out ship in San Diego, CA area. Then went to Long Beach, CA to load up on ammo and food. To Hawaii where we played war games for a week, Midway (one day), **Sasebo, and Yokosuka, Japan (two days).
February, 1952- October, 1952	x	US Navy/ Seaman 1st Class; Gunnersmate 3rd Class	x	From there (in late February) we steamed out aboard the *USS Fechteler (DD-870) in Korea joining with US Task Force 77th. Wonsan, Pusan, Inchon, Korea. Went on the bomb line immediately and spent two weeks shelling Wonsan. I was on a quad 40mm (4 barrels) and I strafed the beach area. They had huts - about ten of them - inland and off of the beach area. I was the gunner who took out these huts. Some of them had 155 Howitzers. I took out two of them. When I got to the last hut, a woman with a baby came out, and my 40mm tracer hit them. (I have lived with that all of these years.) We did bomb line throughout the summer. The 5" 38's did a lot while we were there taking out the North Koreans in higher-up areas throughout the day and night. They had these little torches they carried along the hillside. Made Seaman 1st Class in June, 1952 and Gunners Mate 3rd Class on September 11, 1952.
Nov., 1952	x	Enroute	x	Back to Long Beach, CA.
November, 1952	x	US Navy/ Gunnersmate 3C	x	Coastal patrol from November, 1952 through May, 1953.
May 18, 1953	x	US Navy/ Gunnersmate 3C	x	Discharged in San Diego, CA.
May, 1953	x	Enroute	x	Drove back from Los Angeles, CA to Des Moines, IA.
May, 1953- January, 1955	x	Civilian	x	Still in US Naval Reserve (until January, 1955). Worked at National Builders Supply.
January, 1955	x	US Naval Reserve Discharge	x	Discharged from US Naval Reserve in January, 1955.
January, 1955- 1957	x	Civilian	x	Still working at National Builders Supply.
	x	Enlisted in US Air Force Reserve	x	1957: Iowa Air National Guard; 132nd Air Defense Fighter Wing.
March 13, 1957	x	Married	x	Married Norma Jean Riley in Des Moines, IA.
April, 1957 April, 1958	x	Training	x	***Lowry Air Force Base, Colorado. Training in Weapons Control.
April, 1958- 1963	x	Employed	x	Iowa Air National Guard as an air technician.
July 19, 1963	x	Discharged/ Master Sergeant	x	Discharged from Air National Guard of IA and the Reserve of the United States Air Force.
1963-1965	x	Employed	x	Air Route Traffic Control Center, Farmington, Minnesota. (government)
1965-1967	x	Employed	x	Univac in St. Paul, MN.
1967-1968	x	Employed	x	Control Data in Minneapolis, MN. (government)
1968-1970	x	Employed	x	Transferred to Collins Radio (NASA) in Cedar Rapids, IA
June, 1970-1976	x	Employed	x	Transferred from Cedar Rapids, IA to ALMSA, St. Louis, MO developing an automated logistics system. (Automated Logistics Management System Agency)
1976-1979	x	Employed	x	GS-11 to GS-12. Aviation Command of Army Aviation portion of the US Army. Troop Support Command (ASCOM).
1979-1988	x	Employed	x	Moved to Goodfellow Street. TROSCOM. Command. Promoted to GS-13 and retired as a GS-13. Temporarily promoted to GS-14, but preferred job duties of the GS-13.
1988-Present	x	Retired	x	Retired in MO.


Des Moines Armed Forces Examining & Entrance Station (AFEES at KRNT)

**Sasebo, Japan


	Left: USS Fechteler (DD-870) Above: (USSFechteler Insignia)

*USS Fechteler; DD-870 Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Combat Action Ribbon; American Campaign Medal Ribbon; European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal Ribbon

*USS Fechteler (DD-870) destroyer
USS Fechteler,(DD-870), a Gearing class destroyer, was built by the Bethlehem Steel Co. of Staten Island NY, and launched September 19, 1945 with commissioning on March 2, 1946. While it is known that Fechteler was in the Far East on two war-time deployments, the first from 13 November 1950 to 8 August 1961, the second from 23 February 1952 to 29 September 1952 in which she screened TF 77 in its air operations, sailed with the escort and patrol force, and gave bombardment and close gunfire support to the troops a shore, earning 5 battle stars for that service, there is no other history of when she was FRAM'd for DASH, but that she did receive the FRAM I modification. Fechteler was eventually stricken on September 11, 1970, sold on June 28, 1972 to be broken up for scrap.

Fechteler operated with the Seventh Fleet in support of United Nations Forces during the Korean War, underwent conversion to a radar picket destroyer from 1 April to 1 December 1953, alternated operations along the west coast and in Hawaiian waters with deployments to the western Pacific with the Seventh Fleet, and participated in Sea Dragon and Market Time operations, patrolled on search and rescue duties and carried out naval gunfire support missions during the conflict in Vietnam.

Also:
The USS FECHTELER (DD-870) was constructed by the Bethlehem Steel Company, Staten Island, New York, commissioned on 2 March 1946, and assigned to duty with the Atlantic Fleet. When the keel was laid, the ship was originally named in honor of Rear Admiral Augustus F. Fechteler, USN, who commanded a battleship division in World War I. However, prior to commissioning the name was shortened to its present form and honors both the Admiral and his son, LT Frank C. Fechteler, an early naval aviator who was killed in a plane crash in 1922. Admiral William F. Fechteler, USN (Retired), former Chief of Naval Operations, is another son of the late Admiral Augustus Fechteler.
In January 1947, the ship passed through the Panama Canal to begin a six year period of operations with the Pacific Fleet. In April 1953, she underwent conversion to become a radar picket destroyer, and made a round the world cruise in 1954 in this status. After a Mediterranean cruise in 1955, FECHTELER returned to the Pacific Fleet, bringing with it the Battle Efficiency "E". FECHTELER left the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in January 1964, carrying the FRAM I conversion.
FECHTELER was a member of destroyer squadron 19, of the Seventh Fleet. She was present at the outbreak of U.S. naval involvement in the Vietnam War, off Hainan Island in 1964, when the destroyer Turner Joy was attacked by North Vietnamese fast boats. FECHTELER was deployed off the Vietnamese coast during the ensuing war.

***Lowry Air Force Base, CO
World War II - Technical Training Command
In January 1942, in the early course of World War II, the War Department assigned Lowry Field to the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command, and tasked Lowry with annually training 57,000 men. By the end of the 1945, Lowry was processing an average of 300 discharges a day. Post WW II
On 1 July 1946, Lowry was assigned to the Army Air Forces new Air Training Command, which it would be a part of for almost the next 50 years. On 24 June 1948, Lowry Field was renamed Lowry Air Force Base as a result of the United States Air Force becoming a separate branch of the Armed Forces of the United States.

With the beginning of the Korean War, Lowry Air Force Base expanded its training program. Courses taught, in addition to photography and armament, included rocket propulsion, missile guidance, electronics, radar-operated fire-control systems, computer specialties, gun and rocket sights, and electronically operated turret systems.

Also during the 1950s, Lowry functioned as President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Summer White House from 1952 - 1955. From 1954 until 1958 it was the interim home for the United States Air Force Academy until construction was completed in Colorado Springs.

Jimmie Neal Bowie Gunners Mate 3rd Class Special Forces; 7th Fleet United States Navy
	Jimmie Neal Bowie
National Defense; Korea Service Medal w/Star; United Nations Service Medal/Korea; Navy Occupation Medal/Japan; China Service Medal; Korean War Service Medal; Good Conduct Medal Ribbons: Navy Combat; Navy Presidential Unit Citation; Korean Presidential Unit Citation

Jimmie Neal Bowie
Master Sergeant
United States Air Force Reserves

(l-r) Jimmie N. Bowie, Phillip J. Bejarno, and Keith Hepler (on side of F86)

132nd Fighter Wing; IA Air National Guard

Air Force Outstanding Unit Ribbon; Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon

References

(1) Information was obtained from the Records on Military Personnel Who Died, were Missing in Action, or Prisoners of War as a result of the Vietnam War. This document can be found online at the National Archives and Records Administration at http://www.archives.gov/.

(2) The comprehensive list of names from North High's 1893-2018 graduation classes are from Claradell Shedd's North Des Moines High School website. The names of North High School graduates can be found online at: http://www.ndmhs.com/. Jimmie Neal Bowie's 1950 class page is: http://ndmhs.com/pages/yearclass1950(2010.60).html.

10/18/10: Currently living in MO.

Music: "Anchors Aweigh"