TUCSON, AZ, USA U.S. Air Force SSGT, 3RD LOGISTICS READINESS SQUADRON, ELMENDORF AFB, ALASKA KOT, AFGHANISTAN 03/15/2009
Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy Louis Bowles, 24, was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and was raised in Tucson, Arizona. He graduated from Tucson High School in 2002 and attended Pima Community College before joining the Air Force. He worked at the Tucson Medical Center cafeteria while taking classes at Pima.
Timothy grew up in a military family. His father, retired Air Force Master Sgt. Louis Bowles, served in the first Gulf War in 1990 and 1991. The elder Bowles said that Timothy had confided that he was unhappy at times growing up, as his father left for one deployment after another. He didn’t understand his father’s military career was what took him away from home.
However, Timothy took a special interest in elderly veterans who attended chapel services on Sundays. He made a point of paying attention to them and assisting them if they needed help. His father describes him as a “loving and loyal, a son you could trust.”
When Timothy enlisted in the Air Force, Bowles said he was “stunned” but “I was all for it.”
Timothy was in the 3rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, Elmendorf Air Force Base, near Anchorage, Alaska. He was a fire engine mechanic.
In Afghanistan, Timothy was assigned to the 755th Air Expeditionary Group’s Nangarhar Provincial Reconstruction Team in Jalalabad. He died March 15, 2009 near Kot after his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He had volunteered for his final mission to take an ill colleague’s place on patrol.
“That was Tim,” his father said of his son’s offer to fill in for someone. “He was always unselfish, wanting to help people any way he could.”
“Raised in a military family, he knew the cost of freedom. He did not falter and he did not fail,” said Col. Richard Walberg.
Comments