Bowers, John Russell
Army Private

John Russell Bowers from Greenville County Piedmont, South Carolina .

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Unknown
Death details: On February 20, 2015, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class John Russell Bowers, missing from the Korean War. Private First Class Bowers entered the U.S. Army from South Carolina and served with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken captive on or before February 14, 1951, when Company L’s position on a key road into Wonju was overrun by Chinese Communist Forces. He was interned at POW Camp 5, near Pyokdong, North Korea, where he died on May 3, 1951. His body was not returned to the U.S. immediately following the war. Between 1991 and 1994, the North Korean government repatriated human remains to the U.S., and analysts were able to identify PFC Bowers from among these remains. Private First Class Bowers is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Index Journal (1953)