Author: Robin Kern

Captain Robert L. “Bob” Bowen was born January 12, 1941, and he enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 1960. While with Leatherneck Magazine he served three tours as a combat correspondent in Vietnam, later serving another tour in Vietnam with the First Marine Division. Bob also served as chief photojournalism instructor at the Defense Information School in Indianapolis; he was then promoted to first lieutenant and served a four-year tour as station manager of the Far East Radio and Television Station at Misawa Air Base, Japan. Captain Bowen retired in 1980 while serving as the Marine Corps spokesman in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs at the Pentagon, and he later retired again in 1996 from a career in public affairs with the State Department, Justice Department, and Voice of America. Bob lives today with his wife of thirty-four years, Helen, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Robin Kern worked twenty-four years as a graphic specialist and editor for the Department of Defense at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and she is currently a Do D contractor providing graphic and archival support at Fort Leavenworth. Robin is also an editor, and she has created graphics for several books on the Vietnam War and other American military engagements.