Alfred Fowler and the Vietnam War

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina

Alfred Fowler was born on September 26, 1942, in Whites Creek Township in Bladen County, North Carolina. His parents were John Edd and Laney (Shaw) Fowler. Alfred’s mother died when he was five years old, leaving him to be raised by his father, with whom he was not very close. Alfred’s mother gave birth to nine living children, the oldest of whom — Mary Lee — worked to raise Alfred and his siblings. Growing up, Alfred was very close to his youngest sister Mabel.

Postcard from Alfred Fowler to his wife, postmarked February 28, 1968, while he was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for Army artillery training in the Vietnam War [from Box 1, Folder 3, Alfred Fowler Papers, VW 1, Vietnam War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of N.C.].

Cynthia Laverne (Bryant) Fowler was born in Harnett County, North Carolina. Her parents were James Hubert and Wyomia B. Bryant. James worked as an auto mechanic in Sanford in the 1950s, and Wyomia was a school teacher. Alfred and Cynthia met while the two were in New York. Alfred, age 23, and Cynthia, age 19, would be married on August 6, 1966, and remained living in New York until January 1967. In January 1967, the couple moved to Sanford, North Carolina, and lived with Cynthia’s parents at 5195 South Horner Boulevard.

VW 1.B2.F12.1: Snapshot of Alfred Fowler standing next to an artillery gun in a bunker in Vietnam at an unknown location in June 1968, during his service with B Battery, 321st Artillery, 82nd Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Photograph sent to his wife Cynthia Fowler with a June 23, 1968, letter (June 1968).

Alfred Fowler worked at the Cornell-Dubilier Electronics plant in Sanford prior to his service in the Vietnam War. Seattle-founded Cornell-Dubilier, a pioneer in producing capacitors for radios and other electronics, opened a Sanford plant in 1955. Fowler worked in a laboratory at the company testing its products.

Letter from Alfred Fowler to his wife on January 12, 1969, while he was moving with his unit Battery B, 321st Artillery Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, towards the Cambodian border [from Box 2, Folder 1, VW 1, Alfred Fowler Papers, Vietnam War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of N.C.].

Page 1 of a two-page letter written by Alfred Fowler to his wife on January 30, 1969, from the jungles of South Vietnam, expressing his frustration over how he and his men are being treated by his Army unit. Such feelings grew in the isolation of jungle service American servicemen in the Vietnam War [from Box 2, Folder 1, Alfred Fowler Papers, VW 1, Vietnam War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of N.C.].

Prior to moving to North Carolina, Alfred Fowler had attempted to enlist voluntarily in the U.S. military, but was rejected three times by the military — likely due to his having high blood pressure. When the Fowlers relocated to North Carolina, however, Alfred received his draft board notice about six months later on July 3, 1967. Partly due to the Fowlers’ recent relocation, Alfred would receive draft notices from three different local draft boards between August and October 1967, as different localities were trying to claim him for draft quotas. He received his final draft notice, which indicated his date of induction would be in November 1967.

Alfred Fowler was inducted into the U.S. Army as a private on November 28, 1967. He entered basic training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in December 1967, where he remained until February 1968. Alfred was assigned to the 2nd Platoon, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, in the U.S. Army Training Center at Fort Bragg. He would be transferred to Fort Sill near Lawton, Oklahoma, arriving there between February 9 and February 10, 1968. The culture shock in Lawton, Oklahoma, was extreme for an African American man from North Carolina who had spent time in New York. He did not like Lawton at all, noting in one of his letter to his wife: “This place Baby, is so out of date. The music they play here, we forgot it back home. The way they dress is terrible. I was just walking down the streets window shopping, and just about all you see is Cowboy Boots and Bull horns, really? I realize this is a Western town but everything they wear looks like hand-me-downs” [Letter written in February 1968].

Section of Page 2 of a letter written in February 1968 from Alfred Fowler to wife Cynthia, sharing his view of the culture of Lawton, Oklahoma, while he was stationed at the U.S. Army’s Fort Sill for artillery training for the Vietnam War [from Box 1, Folder 3, Alfred Fowler Papers, VW 1, Vietnam War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of N.C.].

While at Fort Sill, Fowler was a member of Battery E of the 3rd Training Battalion at the U.S. Army Training Center-Field Artillery command. It was during his nearly three-month stay at Fort Sill that Fowler learned how to operate a variety of field artillery guns, which he came to utilize in the jungles and mountains of Vietnam.

Serving with Battery B of the 2nd Battalion, 321st Artillery Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Alfred Fowler was sent to Vietnam with his regiment between the end of April and the first week of May 1968. He worked as an assistant gunner in a 105 mm Howitzer section.

Photograph of Alfred Fowler loading a 105 mm Howitzer field artillery gun at an unidentified U.S. Army camp in Vietnam between 1968 and 1969 during the Vietnam War [image courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History].

He was promoted to corporal by July 3, 1968. Fowler’s overseas service ended in April 1969 after a year-long term in Vietnam. While in Vietnam, Fowler’s artillery unit participated in regular firefights with the Viet Cong. Upon returning to the United States, he was transferred to Fort Carson in Colorado — rather than his preferred location of Fort Bragg — sometime in May 1969. Fowler served at Fort Carson until being honorably discharged from the U.S. Army on November 26, 1969.

Certificate for Alfred Fowler’s Bronze Star Medal, awarded on February 11, 1969 [from Box 2, Folder 15, Vietnam War Papers, VW 1, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina].

Alfred Fowler returned to work at his job with Cornell-Dubilier, and would attend Central Carolina Community College in Sanford for a couple of years. Fowler’s family recollects that he suffered mood swings and mental distress from his service in Vietnam, believing this to be what today is identified as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He never would openly discuss his service, shielding his family from the horrors of what he experienced in Vietnam. Alfred had changed quite a bit upon his return from service, and the letters he wrote from Vietnam indicate some of the struggles he was going through during combat.

Fowler suffered significant racism in the U.S. Army, particularly while in Vietnam. This excerpt of a letter from March 17, 1969, to his wife Cynthia, shows his growing frustration with white officers and servicemen. This letter relates how he was being passed for rank promotion to Sergeant by two white soldiers whom he outranked in his time and service as a Corporal [from Box 2, Folder 3, Vietnam War Papers, VW 1, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina].

Since they had been newlyweds when he left for the U.S. Army, Alfred and Cynthia Fowler would have to relearn to live with each other, facing the challenges of adjusting to the drastic personal and cultural changes of the late 1960s as an African American couple in North Carolina. The Fowlers would remain together until Alfred’s death on July 17, 2004. He was buried at Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery in Spring Lake, North Carolina.

After trying to attend college and work at the same time while Alfred was in the military, Cynthia had to drop out of college to earn a living at the Carnes Company’s new facility in Sanford in 1968. Carnes manufactured Centrifugal Spun Air Ventilators and other air ventilators (those air vents shaped in concentric circular patterns in ceilings, common to every office in the United States). In 1965, Carnes, based in Verona, Wisconsin, expanded their company by adding a second 110,000 square foot building in Sanford, North Carolina.

The Fowlers had two children, both sons. Later, Cynthia would work as an Associate Technical Analyst for Progress Energy. In 2004, Cynthia finished her college career, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management.

Alfred Fowler’s Army uniform is displayed at the N.C. Museum of History. You can read Fowler’s Vietnam War letters in the Alfred Fowler Papers (VW 1) in the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina.