Of all of the uniquely harmful jobs troopers had in the course of the Vietnam Battle, Army veteran C.W. Bowman’s activity ranks close to the highest of the checklist.
Bowman was a “tunnel rat.”
Bowman, a former employees sergeant, volunteered for the extremely nerve-racking however necessary place of discovering enemy intelligence rummaging via the Viet Cong’s huge underground tunnel system. He has loads of wild tales of overcoming worry and what he encountered in these darkish, dank tunnels. Bowman shared just a few of his reminiscences throughout a presentation on the Richland Library Major on Feb. 13 in Columbia, South Carolina, in response to The Submit & Courier.
Receiving his draft discover at age 19, Bowman joined the Army, transport off to Vietnam in 1967. He was assigned to the twenty fifth Infantry Division the place his tunnel investigation days would quickly start.
Lifetime of a Tunnel Rat
Tunnel rats weren’t present in each unit in Vietnam, however the firms that did use them chosen volunteers for the ultra-dangerous job few envied.
For Bowman, all of it started when his sergeant requested if he may examine a Viet Cong (VC) bunker. Not understanding what would await him underground, the younger soldier crept down into the opening in whole darkness. He seemed straight forward, recognizing the one mild he may see, coming from the opposite aspect of the bunker. It was the exit.
“I simply began strolling. I didn’t look left or proper, I didn’t take a look at something,” Bowman stated. “I stated, ‘If I make it via that door, I’ll be alive.’”
The very fact he survived was adequate for his sergeant – Bowman was formally designated the unit’s tunnel rat. He considered his age, in contrast himself to others in his unit, and determined to volunteer.
“I used to be 20, and plenty of these guys had been married and had youngsters,” Bowman stated. “I actually didn’t have a lot to return to, so I stated … what the hell, it didn’t matter to me, you already know?”
A Job Stuffed with Concern
Elevating his hand for such a lethal occupation didn’t imply Bowman wasn’t fraught with worry each time he shimmied down these Viet Cong tunnels. One story specifically highlights how shut the younger soldier was to turning into one other casualty of warfare.
Stationed in Cu Chi in 1967, Bowman ventured down one other tunnel, however this time got here throughout one thing he had by no means seen earlier than – an underground hospital with VC troops staring again at him, simply as shocked to see him as he was of seeing them.
The VC drew their weapons. Bowman reacted rapidly, unloading photographs from his .45 caliber pistol. He scrambled again out of the tunnel, dropping a C4 explosive down the opening simply to be protected.
That wasn’t the primary time he thought his coronary heart would pound out of his chest.
The worry of the unknown by no means pale, however the extra tunnel journeys he made, the extra Bowman shifted his focus to what was round him and never the thumping of his heartbeat, which consumed him the primary time he went right into a bunker.
“The extra I did, it was extra of a focus on what was round me, as a result of plenty of the tunnels had booby traps in them,” Bowman stated. “The pounding coronary heart went away.”
His aim was to analyze something he may discover on the VC’s actions and operations. The tunnels revealed all types of things, from maps to weapons. In a single search, he stumbled upon greater than 200 German Mauser rifles.
“Everyone received a rifle to take residence within the firm,” Bowman stated. “There was no telling what you’d discover down there.”
Harsh ‘Welcome’ House
After surviving the tunnels of Vietnam, Bowman had different obstacles to beat, reacclimating to civilian life and an antiwar public that wasn’t variety to many returning troopers.
“We had been all shunned. We had been harassed,” Bowman stated. “Yeah, the homecoming, to me, was worse than preventing within the warfare.”
Bowman returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1970, got here residence and married his spouse, Ruthie. Born and raised in Bordentown, New Jersey, Bowman moved to South Carolina in 1973. Following the warfare, he spent two years as a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson, South Carolina earlier than leaving the Army.
Library Sequence Invitations Veterans’ Tales
Bowman’s presentation was a part of the library’s Midday Debrief sequence, which it hosts in partnership with a army historical past museum, the South Carolina Accomplice Relic Room & Museum.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster lately appointed Bowman to the museum’s board of commissioners. His presentation attracted about 30 individuals, together with Matthew Padgett, a army historical past buff from Columbia.
“I assumed it was simply gonna be a film — however (the library employees) had been like, ‘No, an precise man who was loopy sufficient to go be a tunnel rat’s gonna be talking,’ and I’ve by no means met one,” Padgett stated.
Melvin Relaxation, from Cayce, South Carolina, was additionally moved by Bowman’s presentation. He stated it made him notice the sacrifices of so many veterans, together with his father, a World Battle II soldier.
“He simply by no means would speak about his time in World Battle II,” West stated. “We may have realized a lot extra from folks (if we’d) been extra open about speaking about it.”
One attendee posed an attention-grabbing query – having gone via it, would Bowman volunteer for tunnel rat responsibility once more?
“Positive,” he stated. “It was gathering intelligence and weapons and ammunition, but it surely was additionally proving myself.”
