Serjeant REGINALD SAMUEL NORMAN FOWLER (photo added)


Rank	Serjeant
Forenames	REGINALD SAMUEL NORMAN
Surname	FOWLER (photo added)
Initials	R S N
Place of Birth	GRAYS, ESSEX, UNITED KINGDOM
Date of Birth	Unknown
Date of Death	Tuesday, 25 July 1944
Age	29
Nationality	British
Residence or Entered Service From	BLACKPOOL, LANCASHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM
Service Number	6025520
Force	British Army
Service/Corps/Regiment	Parachute Regiment, Army Air Corps
Unit / Ship / Battalion / Squadron	9 Parachute Battalion (6th Airborne Division)
Military Honours and Awards
Place of Burial/Commemoration	RANVILLE WAR CEMETERY Roll of honour
Grave/Memorial Location	IVA. O. 9.
Previous Place(s) of Burial	Unknown
Epitaph	IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY DEAR, FAITHFUL HUSBAND WHO WILL ALWAYS BE IN MY THOUGHTS
Family Details	HUSBAND OF CONSTANCE JEANNE IRENE FOWLER, OF POULTON, BLACKPOOL, LANCASHIRE.

Additional Information

Commonwealth War Grave Commission Records list REGINALD SAMUEL NORMAN FOWLER as a Lance Serjeant. However, his original grave marker, official notification of death, and his former platoon officer, in a letter to the family, refer to him as a Serjeant.

Photograph of REGINALD SAMUEL NORMAN FOWLER at Clacton-on-Sea, July 1935

The following information has been taken from the memoir, SID's WAR, of 9 Parachute Battallion veteran Private Sid Capon, who was wounded on the same day as Serjeant REGINALD SAMUEL NORMAN FOWLER:

Sid Capon was wounded in the Bois de Bavent, a wooded area east of Caen. He managed to make his way to battalion Headquarters to alert them to that someone else had been wounded. Sid's wound was assessed and it was decided he would be evacuated and he had to wait for a Jeep to arrive.

When the Jeep arrived, it was carrying Serjeant Fowler on a stretcher... 'The MO (Medical Officer) took one look at me, injected me with morphine and put a sign around my neck. "I'm afraid you are going back to Blighty, but you will have to wait for a Jeep to come."

The jeep came carrying a more serious case than mine. It was Sergeant Reg Fowler. I sat on the unwounded cheek of my arse and we went to the first medical station. Reg Fowler's wife had given birth a few days before we left England and was one of the very few given leave to see his wife and newborn baby before we left. He was moaning with pain and calling out about his wife and children but he died before we got to the medical station.

Three letters had to be sent that day to the bereaved...'²

Private Sid Capon was awarded the Légion d'Honneur in 2005. He passed away in 2006.

It was believed by some in the regiment that Sergeant REGINALD SAMUEL NORMAN FOWLER had seen his newborn child in the weeks before he left for Normandy, when he had been given special leave. This, unfortunately, was not the case, his wife had a prolonged labour and his son Anthony Fowler was born some days later after he had returned to camp. By this time the 9 Parachute Battalion were confined to camp, and waiting for their orders to drop into Normandy.³

Letter dated 24th August 1944 from Records Office regarding the wounding of Serjeant FOWLER.

Official Notification of Death, dated 2nd October 1944.

Letter from Serjeant FOWLER's former commanding officer

Lieutenant Chas 'Jock' C. E. Lepper,

to Serjeant Fowler's widow, dated 30th August 1944.

(Transcript follows)

Transcript of letter from Serjeant FOWLER's former commanding officer

Lieutenant Chas 'Jock' C. E. Lepper,

to Serjeant Fowler's widow, dated 30th August 1944.

Lieutenant Chas 'Jock' C. E. Lepper,⁴

14 Platoon, C Company,

9 Parachute Battalion 6th Airborne Division,

Letter from Captain The Reverend John Gwinnett,⁵ attached 9 Parachute Battalion,

to Mrs Fowler with details of Serjeant FOWLER's funeral of the 24th July 1944.

Service record for Serjeant REGINALD SAMUEL NORMAN FOWLER.

His rank of Serjeant is not recorded on Service Record,

but is acknowledged on his original grave marker,

letter of notification of death, and in the letter from his former commanding officer.

Serjeant FOWLER, then a lance corporal,⁴

taken October 1943

C Company, 9 Parachute Battalion, October 1943.⁴

Lance Corporal FOWLER is 4th row from top, far left.

Photograph of original cross grave marker¹

Grave of Serjeant REGINALD SAMUEL NORMAN FOWLER,

taken on the 70th anniversay of the Normandy landings in 2014.⁶

Anthony and Joyce Fowler, son and daughter-in-law of Serjeant FOLWER,

Paying their respects in 2014.⁷

References
1.	All photographs and documents, unless otherwise referenced, have all been kindly provided by Anthony Fowler, son of Serjeant Reginald Samual Norman Fowler, via his son-in-law Neal Simms and daughter Jacqui Simms.
2.	Extract from SID's WAR, edited and published by Major Michael Strong, © Joan Capon. Privately Published in 2012.
3.	Interview with Anothony Fowler, son of Serjeant FOWLER, May 2012 and February 2014.
4.	Photograph of Lieutenant Lepper, Lance Corporal Fowler and 9 Parachute Battalion provided by Neil Barber author of The Day the Devils Dropped In. Published 2002, 2003, Pen & Sword Books Ltd. e-Book published 2013.
5.	Photograph of Reverend Gwinnett, from Pegasus Bridge & Merville Battery, p.110. published 1999 - 2004 3rd edition. Pen & Sword Books Ltd. by Carl Shilleto. Courtesy of Batterie de Merville Museum.
6.	Photograph taken by Carl Shilleto, June 2014.
7.	Photographs taken by Frederick Greenhow, May 2014.

Acknowledgements and Credits
Source of original data:	Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Headstone photograph:	Carl Shilleto
Cross marker photograph:	Anthony Fowler, son of Serjeant Reginald Samual Norman Fowler.
Individual photograph:	Anthony Fowler, son of Serjeant Reginald Samual Norman Fowler.
Additional photographs provided by:	Anthony Folwer , Neil Barber, Carl Shilleto, Batterie de Merville Museum and Frederick Greenhow.
Additional information provided by:	Anthony Fowler, son of Serjeant Reginald Samual Norman Fowler, Carl Shilleto, Neil Barber, and Batterie de Merville Museum