Bowker, Gordon Albert, LT

On January 10th, 1943, the USS Argonaut (SS-166) was attacking a Japanese convoy when she was counterattacked by the convoy escorts. An allied plane witnessed her attack. The submarine was apparently damaged by a depth charge. When she came to the surface, she was subsequently sunk by gun fire from the Japanese destroyers escorting the convoy, with a loss of all crew members. Lieutenant Bowker was officially declared dead on January 11, 1944.

Service number: 082243

Gordon Albert Bowker was born August 3, 1917 in Norfolk City, Virginia, son of Howard Franklin and Violetta Mary (Bowker) Bowker. Gordon had two brothers. His older brother, Howard Jr., was a Major in the Marine Corps, killed in action in 1943. His father was a pay clerk for the Navy, and in 1920 his family lived in San Rafael, Marin county, California where his father was Lt. Junior Grade in the Navy. They later lived in Oakland, Alameda county, California.. Gordon joined the US Naval Reserves on November 28, 1939 . He was commissioned an Ensign while attending the University of California at Berkeley.
 
He served aboard USS Idaho (BB-42) from 1939 to 1941. On September 26, 1941 he married Hazel Ringseth in New London, Connecticut. A son, Gordon Bowker Jr., was born in October 1942, while his father was deployed. He would never meet his father.
 
 Gordon reported aboard USS Argonaut later in 1941. On May 13, 1942 he was commissioned as Lieutenant. USS Argonaut (APS-1, later known as SS-166) was the largest American submarine during WWII. Her first patrol near Midway had resulted in no damage to enemy ships, but her second was a most successful one. It was conducted following a complete modernization, at Mare Island. Her mission on this one had been to cooperate with Nautilus in transporting 252 Marine officers and men to Makin Island for a diversionary raid against enemy shore installations. In the early morning of 17 August 1942, the raiders were debarked in boats. After nearly two days ashore, the Marines returned, and the submarines transported them back to Pearl Harbor, Argonaut arriving on August 26.
 
While operating in the area southeast of New Britain in the Solomon Sea off Papau, New Guinea during her third patrol, Argonaut intercepted a Japanese convoy returning to Rabaul from Lae on January 10, 1943. A U. S. Army plane which was out of bombs saw one destroyer hit by a torpedo, saw the explosion of two other destroyers, and reported that there were five other vessels in the group. On the basis of the report given by the Army flier who witnessed the attack in which Argonaut perished, this ship was credited with having damaged one Japanese destroyer on her last patrol.
 
Argonaut was sunk by Japanese aircraft and destroyers Isokaze and Maikaze during this encounter on January 10, 1943. Lt. Gordon A. Bowker was among the 8 officers and 94 crew members lost. Later issued letters of commendation indicate “as a result of a severe counterattack the Argonaut was forced to break surface but with no regard to personal safety and in the face of imminent death, the officers and crew accepted destruction rather than surrender.”
 
Within a span of two weeks, Gordon’s parents were notified of the death of two sons: Gordon and his brother, Major Howard F. Bowker Jr. Gordon’s younger brother, Irving Allen Bowker was a 2nd Lieutenant, serving in the Army overseas. As the only surviving son, Irving was reassigned stateside following the loss of his brothers. Gordon’s father continued to serve in the Navy during WWII, as a supply officer in the South Pacific.
 
Gordon A. Bowker’s name appears on the Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Philippines.
 
 
 
References:
Ancestry.com. Virginia, U.S., Birth Records, 1912-2015
1920; Census Place: San Rafael, Marin, California; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 86
1930; Census Place: Oakland, Alameda, California; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 0181
1940; Census Place: Oakland, Alameda, California; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 61-144
Ancestry.com. Web: Connecticut, U.S., Marriage Records, 1897-1968
Ancestry.com. U.S., Select Military Registers, 1862-1985
Ancestry.com. U.S., Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56754529/gordon-albert-bowker
https://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08166.htm
Naval History and Heritage Command - USS Argonaut
https://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-argonaut-166-loss.html
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949
The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, CA: Feb. 23, 1943, p.7
Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA: May 4, 1945, p.9
 
This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.
 
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