Charles Glenwood Bower

Sources Canadian Virtual War Memorial 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards

Name: Charles Glenwood Bower Rank: Trooper Service No.: F/5170 Service: 4th Reconnaissance (Recce) Regiment, 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, RCAC Date of Birth: August 20, 1920 Place of Birth: Baccaro, Shelburne Co., NS Date of Enlistment: April 6, 1942 Place of Enlistment: Yarmouth, NS Address at Enlistment: Baccaro, Shelburne Co., NS Age at Enlistment: 21 Trade: Labourer; in defence work for 10 months prior to enlistment, fisherman prior Marital Status: Single Religion: United Church of Canada Next of Kin: Charles Bower (Father) of Baccaro, Shelburne Co., NS. Date of Death: January 23, 1944 Age at Death: 23 Cemetery: Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, Italy Plot: VI. A. 6. Commemorated on page 255 of the Second World War Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on May 29 Charles was the son of Charles Harvey (1884-1954) & Lucy Edna (Crowell) Bower (1894-1954), of Baccaro, Shelburne Co., NS. He had four sisters and two brothers Vernon Lery and Gerald Carlyle. His sister Edna May Brown lived in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. His brother Gerald Carlyle Bower (Service No. F/57796) died on September 15, 1944 while serving with the West Nova Scotia Regiment. After enlistment early in 1942, he completed his basic training and Camp 60 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and was in Borden before transferring overseas to England at the end of July 1942. From England, the 4th Recce Regiment, 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, joined the Sicilian and Italian Campaigns. After Sicily, the regiment landed at Reggio di Calabria, on the Italian mainland on September 3, 1943, on the heels of 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade and immediately began providing 1st Canadian Infantry Division Headquarters with information with regard to the ground to the north including the condition of roads and bridges and the location and strength of enemy forces. Each of the squadrons was composed of three scout troops and assault troop, equipped with a combination of Otter Light Reconnaissance Cars and Fox Heavy Reconnaissance Cars. The Fox had a revolving turret fitted with a .50 calibre Browning machine gun as well as a Bren 303 calibre light machine gun. The Otter mounted a single Bren as did the Universal Carriers used to transport the Scout and Assault Troops. The unit would move in advance of main forces to locate the enemy. When a reporter asked squadron commander Major Harold Parker as to what he and his men did in Italy he replied: "We keep driving until the enemy shoots at us. Then we know he is there". By the winter of 1943, the German armies in Italy were defending a line stretching from the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Naples, to the Adriatic Sea south of Ortona. The Allies prepared to break through this line to capture Rome. For its part, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division was to cross the Moro River and take Ortona. In January 1944 the Canadian Corps selected the site of the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, intending that it would contain the graves of those who died during the Ortona battle and in the fighting in the weeks before and after it. The Battle of Ortona ended December 28, 1943. Charles died of multiple Mortar wounds received in combat January 23, 1944 and was original interred in a British cemetery near Vasto, Italy, and later transferred to the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery.