Chester Allen Bower and Charles Edward Bower

Submitted by: Valerie J. Young {Granddaughter and grandniece}

(l to r) Chester and Charlie Bower in 1918

Chester Allen Bower born around 1894, Chester Bower served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.

Story of Service

Chester Allen Bower and Charles Edward Bower: “Brothers in Service"

Submitted by Valerie J. Young, granddaughter and grandniece

My maternal grandfather was Chester Allen Bower, and his brother, Charles Edward Bower (called Charlie), was my great-uncle. They were born in New Oxford, Pennsylvania and both served in the Great War.

Charlie was a Sergeant with the U.S. Army Medical Corps, and his dates of service were March 26, 1918 to October 20, 1918. He died of the influenza pandemic while at Camp Mills, Long Island NY; he was just 20½ years old.

Willis (left) and Chester Bower 1918Chester was a Private in the AEF’s 79th Division, and his dates of service were September 21, 1917 to June 7, 1919. His unit served in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, where he was gassed close to the Armistice.

He suffered from chronic health issues in the 20 years he lived after returning home, and died in 1939 at age 45. My mother was just 12 years old when he died; I never had the chance to meet him or my great-uncle.

Chester and Charlie had an older brother, Willis Peter Bower, who did not serve in the Great War, but took care of many activities “at home” while his brothers were in service. Willis ending up outliving his two younger brothers, dying in 1947 at age 63.

Chester was the first of the brothers to enter military service. He was living and working in Philadelphia when he registered for the draft on June 5, 1917. He had moved there in 1910 at age 16 to go to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad, where his older brother Willis was working. The 1917 draft was for all men ages 21 to 30; Willis was 34 years old then, so he could not register.

Chester was inducted into the Army in Philadelphia on September 21, 1917. He was sent for training to Camp Meade in Maryland, where he was assigned to the National Army’s 79th Division. He was in Company G of the 315th Infantry, which came to be known as “Philadelphia’s Own” since so many of the soldiers were from that city. They trained at Camp Meade until early July 1918, when they traveled by train to New Jersey, and then departed for France from Hoboken on July 9.

The 79th Division took part in the AEF’s largest battle, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, from late September to the Armistice in November 1918. Chester’s unit helped with the taking of two strategic German strongholds: Montfaucon and la Borne de Cornouiller. When hostilities ceased on 11/11/18, he was near the town of Gibercy; the 79th Division had gained the distinction of having pressed the furthest east into the German Front east of the Meuse River.

Chester’s brother, Charlie, had enlisted in the Regular Army at Takoma Park, Maryland on March 26, 1918. He was allowed to enlist even though under the minimum age of 21. One possible reason that he was able to enlist is that he entered the Army as an assistant embalmer with the Medical Corps, and he might not have been classified for overseas duty. His medical background came from working as an assistant to his cousin, the New Oxford undertaker William Feiser, prior to enlistment.

Chester and Charlie Bower in 1918Charlie entered service at the Medical Supply Depot at Camp Merritt, New Jersey and was then transferred on June 28, 1918 to Camp Mills Base Hospital on Long Island, New York.

Charlie died on October 20, 1918 of the influenza pandemic while stationed at Camp Mills. Chester’s unit was stationed at the Troyon Sector at that time, holding the line established by the earlier St. Mihiel Offensive. It is unknown if, how, and when Chester received news of his brother’s death at the Front. The boys’ parents had received a telegram on October 17 of Charlie’s serious illness, and their brother Willis had traveled to Long Island to be with Charlie at his deathbed. It was Willis who made the call to his parents in New Oxford when Charlie died.

Willis registered for the draft in September 1918, after the Selective Service Act was amended to include all men age 18 to 45. He had also passed the exam for overseas YMCA troop support work in August that year. He was not called to serve in either capacity, likely because both of his brothers were already serving and the war would soon end in early November.

Chester arrived home from the war in June 1919. He returned to Philadelphia to continue working for the Pennsylvania Railroad, but his health issues from having been gassed in the war forced him to leave that employment and return home to New Oxford in August. He struggled to hold a steady job, and eventually landed at the Livingston Shoe Factory in town. Chester was active in local veterans groups when he returned, including assisting with burials when local soldiers who had been interred in France began to repatriated in 1920-21.

Chester married Goldie Bentzel in May 1924. Goldie had been a teacher near town, and was also a single mother raising a daughter from her fiancé who had died tragically from the influenza pandemic; most of his family were also lost to the influenza. Chester and Goldie had two more children, a son Edgar and my mother, their daughter Rena.

They remained living in New Oxford, and Chester eventually attained steady employment in positions of great value to the small community. In 1927, he ran for and was elected New Oxford Borough Tax Collector, and he also served as secretary to the local School Board. In 1935, Chester was appointed U.S. Postmaster for New Oxford for a four-year term. At that time, Postmaster appointments were recommended by the President (FDR at that time) and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Chester was reappointed to the position in June 1939. However, just six months into his second term, Chester died at age 45 on December 30, 1939 in Hanover General Hospital. The cause of death was acute nephritis. We do not know if his being gassed in 1918 led to his early death, and we do not have any post-war medical records for him. But it was part of our family narrative that his war experience contributed to his ongoing health problems.

Chester was buried at the New Oxford Cemetery, near his brother Charlie. Their brother Willis lived and worked in neighboring York County and was also buried at this cemetery when he died in 1947. My grandmother, Goldie, took over her husband’s position as U.S. Postmaster, having passed the civil service exam with highest marks. She held this position for 15 years, until her retirement in 1963 at age 65. She died in 1985 and was buried next to her husband.