In the early ‘90s Eddie Bowers organized the building of the First Street Memorial

Published in the Nov. 12-25, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life

By Robert Airoldi

Photo by Robert Airoldi Eddie Bowers stands in front of the Veterans Memorial in downtown Morgan Hill. Bowers raised the funds and helped build the memorial where the annual Memorial Day and Veterans Day celebrations take place.

Photo by Robert Airoldi
Eddie Bowers stands in front of the Veterans Memorial in downtown Morgan Hill. Bowers raised the funds and helped build the memorial where the annual Memorial Day and Veterans Day celebrations take place.

Years after his discharge from the Army in 1970, Eddie Bowers was looking for a way to honor veterans. Originally he was going to install a plaque downtown but then the idea of a memorial came to him. He can’t recall how much money he raised, but the entire First Street Memorial was paid for by donors and installed by volunteers. Since then, Bowers, 66, has officiated over dozens of Memorial and Veterans day celebrations at the site.

“I was just looking for a way to honor those who have served,” he said. “To get them to talk and take pride in what they did. Back then everyone knew each other. The community was close. When someone lost a son, we all mourned together.”

That pride he has for his service is also instilled in his home town.

Memorial-(2)-webBowers, now a retired barber married for 41 years with two children and a 6-year-old grandson, had a shop at Second and Depot streets for years. His family moved to Morgan Hill in 1950 when he was 2 and they lived in several homes in the downtown area. As a teen he worked in two grocery stores stocking shelves and cleaned a barber shop on Sundays. He earned $10 and received a free haircut when needed. He recalls hanging out downtown in front of an old thrift store on Monterey between Second and Third streets. He loved living in what was then downtown.

“The only time most kids came to downtown was for school or to go to the show,” he said. “Living in Morgan Hill then was great. Everybody here helped each other.”

Memorial-(1)-webHe graduated from Live Oak High School in 1967 and on Nov. 27 of that year, joined the Army at the age of 19.

“Everyone was getting drafted and I got tired of waiting for that phone call so I joined,” he said.

After basic training he was shipped to Vietnam and was sent to a helicopter unit where he worked in a weapons storage room for about 10 months. Then he joined the Scorpion Platoon where he was a gunner on a Huey helicopter ferrying troops, equipment and whatever else needed moved around the country. He flew dozens of missions on what they called “slicks” before he started flying on gunships they called “Bandits.” Those smaller helicopters held four people, two of whom were gunners.

“Basically, you go in and clear the area out,” he said of his time on the gunships. “We were constantly getting shot at.”

On one mission early on, his helicopter was struck.

“I was in a gunship for just three weeks and they blew us out of the sky,” Bowers said of the rocket that hit the left side of the helicopter.

They landed in a rice paddy and Bowers helped load the wounded and dead onto a second helicopter that was flying with them.

“Combat is just reacting, there’s no thinking,” he said. “The brotherhood is really tight.”

That second helicopter took off then returned and dropped off its gunner, a friend called “Fast Eddie” to differentiate him from Bowers.

“He said, “I’m staying with you,’” Bowers said. So they sat in that rice paddy for what seemed like hours, but was in reality much shorter.

“When you’re sitting in the middle of a rice paddy, it’s a lonely feeling let me tell you,” he said.

They’d fly all day from 5 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. He said he probably logged more than 500 hours as a gunner in the 26 months he spent there.

“Everytime I came home on leave I wanted to go back,” said Bowers who has returned many times to see the country where he fought.

He said it was difficult reintegrating into society when he returned to Morgan Hill, “A lot of us drank a lot of beer to get to sleep,” he said. “We self medicated.”

During one of his two one-month leaves, he took some stuff a friend of his gave him to give his family in the East Bay. While there, they gave Bowers stuff to give his friend.

When he returned to Vietnam, he went to the flight office and looked for his buddy. Another soldier told him his friend crashed and died the previous day.

“The whole world just dropped out from beneath me,” he said. He returned to his room, took the stuff the family gave him and put it on top of his friends stuff heading home.

“I was so pissed,” Bowers said. “I was the messenger and I didn’t complete my mission.”

One mission he did complete was the creation of the downtown memorial that he has overseen for the past two-plus decades.

“I love Morgan Hill,” he said. “I never thought about moving. I think Morgan Hill’s still a great town to live in.”