On Sept. 12, Dale Bowlin reflected on his time as a prisoner of war when he spoke at the community’s annual POW/MIA observance.
By happenstance, a reporter sat in when Bowlin and fellow World War II veterans Howard Barkley and Duane Liddle got together recently for lunch. They were discussing their Honor Flight, which flew the three Vancouver residents and several other veterans to Washington D.C.
A highlight of the whirlwind tour was a visit to the World War II Memorial, an impressive monument that includes the names of all the states carved in stone. Someone photographed Bowlin standing at the carving that reads “Kansas” — his native state.
That photo echoed one of Bowlin’s stories about his time in German custody. He’d lost his left leg, so he spent most of his time as a POW in a hospital. Two other wounded Americans were with him; a German nurse named Rosmarie took care of all three.
After the war, Bowlin and his wife, Phyllis, who died in 2009, took several trips to Europe. At the town where he was hospitalized, Bowlin was directed to the house where the nurse lived. When she opened the door, he introduced himself.
She didn’t recognize the name. He explained that she had treated three wounded GIs in 1945. One was from New York; another was from Boston.
She smiled and replied: “You must be the one from Kansas.”
Liddle served in the Pacific on the Willoughby, a PT boat tender.
Barkley also served in the Pacific on the Coronado, a Coast Guard patrol frigate. His battle station was next to the captain, setting the range when the gun crews fired the main batteries. In his day-to-day job, Barkley was a cook. That came into play when the Coronado steamed into Boston for repairs and an engine overhaul. Members of the repair crew quickly struck a deal.
Apparently, it was a lot easier for them to get liquor than coffee, which was rationed. But there was always plenty of coffee brewing in his galley.
“They came in with Thermos bottles that had booze in them,” Barkley said. The cooks would take the liquor, then refill those Thermoses with coffee.
It was a good deal all the way around, although it got a bit tense when an officer walked in one morning. “He’d been out on liberty, and he was really hung over. He was one of the officers who put a lot of guys on report for some crazy little thing,” Barkley said.
And now the disciplinarian with the hangover was looking for a little hair of the dog. They talked around the topic for a while, and Barkley finally poured him a drink.
“He drained it and said thanks and walked off, and I never heard anything about it.”
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