Fowler, Eric Anderson

Born July 24, 1895, in Quogue, Long Island, New York. Son of Anderson and Emily Fowler. Home, New York City. Educated St. Bernard's School, New York; Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania; and Princeton University, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, August 6, 1916; attached Section Four until July 10, 1917. Enlisted French aviation. Trained Avord and Pau. Promoted to Corporal. Killed in aeroplane accident, Pau, November 26, 1917. Buried Pau, Basses Pyrénées.

ERIC FOWLER joined Section Four in the summer of 1916 and remained with it until July, 1917, during the period of the Section's greatest activity and achievements. His share in its work and the place he made for himself in the hearts of many friends, as well as in the life of the Section as a whole, have been recorded in the following extract from a diary kept by an older man who was much thrown with him at the front.

"Eric," writes this friend, "furnished the bright colors to our background. No matter how dismal the outlook he was always on the crest of the wave. And how often did his heart-warming, merry laugh do us all a world of good! Our men have all shown their courage at Marre, Côte 272, and Esnes. But Eric felt a contempt for the dangers of the service that was an inspiration. Physically he was a little giant and of extraordinary endurance. I remember one snowy night, when the road was lost to view, he dog-trotted as a path-finder in front of my car for four round trips between Montzéville and Esnes. When, as happened more than once, I side-slipped into a ditch, he would feed the blessé blankets under the spinning wheels and when I regained the road fearing to stop, he would overtake me, stow the blankets away and, with a boyish laugh and joke, resume his place in front of the car."

When Eric Fowler left Section Four to enlist in the French aviation, he took with him the admiration and gratitude of his chief and the warm best wishes of every fellow driver. He completed his preliminary training at Avord with marked success and went on to Pau for advanced training in "stunt" flying. The sad circumstances of his death, the day of his graduation, when his kit was packed and on its way to the railway station, are related in a letter to his parents by Alan Winslow, a fellow student and dear friend.

"I looked up," writes Winslow, "and saw one of the thirty or forty planes in the air diving out of control, nose downward behind a hangar. Then I heard the crash. Five minutes later I learned it was Eric Fowler and that he had been instantly killed. It was the last flight necessary to make him fit for the front, the finishing flight of five months training.

" Poor, fine Eric, what a shame he could not have died in battle, if die he must! But, as it is, his death is a glorious death, for he died in the pursuit of his work, his ideals, and his patriotism . . . . ...

Fowler was buried at Pau with all military honors and Captain Orgeaix, the French Commandant of the school, in a speech by his grave, paid a glowing tribute to his courage and devotion. "Corporal Fowler," he said, "your death has not been in vain. You have served to bring your country closer to the soul of France. When we think of you, our eyes will always moisten and our hearts grip our bosoms . . . ."

Those who mourn Eric Fowler find an abiding comfort in the words of his friend's letter, and in this tribute of his commanding officer: "His death was glorious. His death was not in vain. He died in the selfless quest of a noble end; in the full measure of his proud youth."

Yet, O stricken heart, remember, O remember,
How of human days he lived the better part,
April came to bloom, and never dim December
Breathed its killing chills upon the head or heart."

• Tribute from Memorial Volume of the American Field Service, 1921