 Burnell Carlisle Bowers was
born on December 22, 1920, at Oak Ridge, Cape
Girardeau County, Missouri. He was of German
ancestry and the fourth child of five born to
Emery Blaine Bowers and Laura Grace (Anderson)
Bowers. He
attended Central High School at Cape Girardeau
where he excelled in football, basketball and
track. He became a salesman for the Central Meat
Packing Company in Cape Girardeau following his
graduation from high school in 1939. Company
employment officer Ray Corbin gave him the
following evaluation following his background
check on Burnell. Burnell received an excellent
evaluation. The report stated he had a very good
reputation in the community, was a superior
student, intelligence much above average,
unquestionable trustworthiness, moral character
was above reproach and his home environment was
the best.
Burnell was
accepted for enlistment in the United States
Marine Corps at Cape Girardeau on March 17, 1942.
He enlisted as a private on March 31, 1942 at St.
Louis, Missouri for the duration of the National
Emergency. His enlistment record states he was 21
years old, brown hair, fair complexion,
5’11”, 160 pounds, blue eyes, single
and duty desired was to be a radar gunner.
 He began his basic training
with the 2nd Recruit Battalion at the Marine
Corps Base in San Diego soon after enlisting. He
was transferred to Training Squadron One, MAD at
Jacksonville, Florida on July 6, 1942 and
enrolled in the Radio School program. He returned
to San Diego for additional training with the Air
Regulation Squadron No. 4 on December 24, 1942.
Burnell was sent back to the Marine Corps Air
Base at Cherry Point, North Carolina on January
28, 1943. He was assigned to Marine Night Fighter
Squadron 531 as a radar gunner. He was promoted
to the rank of corporal on March 3, 1943 and on
March 30, 1943 was promoted to sergeant. He
married his high school sweetheart Juanita Sides
on May 1, 1943 at New Bern, Craven County, North
Carolina. He left Cherry Point in September 1943
for San Francisco, California. He boarded the
U.S.S. Essex on September 14, 1943 and departed
September 15. He arrived at Pearl Harbor on
September 19, 1943 The Essex departed for the
Pacific theater of the war after a short stay at
Pearl. Brunell’s unit participated in action
against the enemy in the New Georgia Operation
from September 21, 1943 to October 16, 1943. He
was promoted to Staff Sergeant on September 24,
1943.
The unit’s
next campaign was the Treasury-Bougainville
Operation from October 27, 1943 to December 15,
1943.Burnell’s last participation in the war
was during the Bismarck-Archipelgo Operation from
December 16, 1943 until his death on February 20,
1944.
On February 20,
1944 Burnell boarded a PV-1 airplane for a
routine night patrol flight with the following
crew members, Lt. Thaddeus Banks and Sergeant
Gilbert Jones in search of enemy barges. Wreckage
of the plane was found the following day with
indication of a severe crash had taken place. Two
parachutes were found floating in the vicinity of
Green Island, Soloman Islands. Crashboat
personnel identified life jackets and parachutes
as those belonging to subject plane, but no
survivors were found. All personnel on the plane
were presumed dead as of February 21, 1945.
The 604th
Quartermaster Graves Registration Company
investigated this case from August 9 to December
22, 1947. They received only negative results.
Burnell was awarded posthumously the Purple
Heart, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the
World War II Victory Medal.
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Burnell C. Bowers
