PFC Thomas Artt “Tom” Bowle (17135362 or 17145362)) was born January 4, 1923 in Delta, Delta County, Colorado. He graduated from Delta High School in 1941 and enlisted in the U.S. Army on April 23, 1943. He was assigned to Company E, 262nd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division (“Black Panther”), ETOUSA Army Group. The 66th trained in the U.S. then went overseas to England in November-December 1944.
The 66th Division crossed the English Channel on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1944 bound for combat on the Continent to replace the troops at the Battle of the Bulge. PFC Bowle was aboard the SS Léopoldville which was was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-486 at 2040 hours. There were 763 American soldiers killed and the bodies of 493, including PFC Bowle, were never recovered from the English Channel. Of the 2,235 American servicemen on board, approximately 515 are presumed to have gone down with the ship. Another 248 died from injuries, drowning, or hypothermia, before ever entering battle. PFC Bowle was 21 years old.
Additional detail provided by Stories Behind the Stars:
Thomas Artt Bowle was born on 4 January 1922 in Eckert, Delta county, Colorado to Clement Arthur and Jessie Alice (Artt) Bowle; he had three sisters, he being next to youngest. His father was an accountant who became the county treasurer by the 1940 census. Thomas attended the Delta High School and was in the dance orchestra in 1938 as a freshman. He registered for the draft on 30 June 1942 standing 5’10” tall, 190 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair being employed by the Triple A offices in Delta, Colorado.
Thomas Artt Bowle was one of 819 soldiers and crew members lost in the sinking of the SS Leopoldville off the coast of France on Dec. 25, 1944.
The troopship was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-Boat 486.
Thomas was born on Jan. 4, 1923, in Eckert, Delta County, Colorado, to Clement Arthur Bowle and Jessie Alice Artt Bowle. His father was a World War I veteran.
“On being called under the selective draft law during the late war with Germany, Mr. Bowle waived exemption on account of harvesting crops and answered at once, believing that the interest of the individual was secondary to that of the nation,” The Dallas Independent reported in 1920.
Clement served as Delta County treasurer for nearly half a century. His wife Alma taught in the county schools. Together, they raised Thomas and his three sisters: Arta, Frances, and Beth.
Thomas graduated from Delta High School, where he was a member of the dance orchestra, and attended Mesa Junior College. He was working for the Triple A Office in Delta prior to entering the army in April 1943. His service number was 17145362.
A private first class, he was assigned to Company E, 262nd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division. The 66th was activated on April 15, 1943, at Camp Blanding, Florida, and later transferred to Camp Robinson, Arkansas.
The division was sent to Camp Rucker, Alabama, for transport to the European Theatre of Operations. The men arrived on Dec. 12, 1944, and trained until Dec. 24, 1944, when they were ordered to the front as replacements. They boarded two Belgian steamships, the SS Chesire and the SS Leopoldville.
PFC Bowle was aboard the Leopoldville when it was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1944. Prior to the conflict, the SS Leopoldville was a Compagnie Belge Maritime du Congo passenger liner.
The German submarine U-486 was credited with the sinking. As a result, 763 soldiers and 56 of the Leopoldville’s crew died.
The ship sailed from Southampton, England, to Cherbourg, France, as part of the WEP-3 convoy. The loading of the 2,223 reinforcements from the 262nd and 264th Regiments was chaotic.
The troopships were not loaded by regiment and many of the officers were not present. The instructions for abandoning ship, use of life savers, and supervised lifeboat drills were minimal at best. The abandon ship order was given in Flemish instead of English.
The original explosion was in Cargo Hold 4 which flooded E-4, F-4, and G-4 compartments. An estimated 300 men were killed by the blast and flooded holds. The English Channel was experiencing swells of 8 feet to 12 feet in height which hampered UMS Brilliant’s attempts to rescue soldiers on ship and in the water. Some 493 of the 763 casualties were never recovered from the 48-degree waters.
PFC Bowle’s remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, Departement du Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. The US WWII Hospital Admission Card stated that he died in the line of duty.