CLEVELAND, OH, USA U.S. Army PFC, HSC, 216TH ENGINEER BATTALION, HAMILTON, OH 45015 SAMARRA, IRAQ 07/07/2004
An Eastern Shore native who graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in Cleveland, Samuel Robert Bowen was a big man with a big heart. He was very intimidating in size, but very soft-spoken and very kind. Samuel Bowen was a restaurant cook known to friends as “Smokey.”
Sam will always be remembered as a fun-loving person who kept in contact with his family and his battle buddies.
Bowen truly was a hero – he was credited with pulling a wounded soldier from the line of fire. Without regard for himself, without regard for what injuries he may sustain, Bowen pulled his fellow soldiers to safety in a recent attack.
Private First Class Samuel Robert Bowen had originally enlisted after high school, but later left the service before joining the Army Reserves. Bowen was assigned to the 216th Engineer Battalion, a unit of the Ohio National Guard that is based in a Cleveland suburb.