Roger Bower was born in
Andover, Hampshire, England, on 13 February 1903, the son of Herbert Morris Bower and Eileen Francis Fitzgerald. He was educated at
Repton School and later attended the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from where he was
commissioned into the
King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry on 1 February 1923. Among his fellow graduates were
Robert Poole,
Geoffrey Bourne,
Ernest Down,
Archer Clive,
Francis Matthews,
John Carew Pole,
Hugh Stockwell and
Ronald Littledale. Bower served with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment in
India from 1923 to 1930. Promoted on 1 February 1925 to
lieutenant, after serving as his battalion's
adjutant he then returned to England, where he attended the
Staff College, Camberley, from 1935 to late 1936, and, like at Sandhurst, several of his fellow students were destined for
general officer rank during the
Second World War or in the years after. They included
Eric Bols,
John Whitfield,
Robert Arkwright,
Lewis Lyne, Geoffrey Bourne and Robert Poole, both fellow Sandhurst graduates,
Freddie de Guingand,
Leonard Holmes,
Stephen Shoosmith,
Charles Dalton,
Charles Keightley,
Charles Haydon,
Walter Lentaigne,
George Walsh,
Horatius Murray,
Charles Dunphie,
Terence Airey and
Gerald Lloyd-Verney. After graduating from Camberley, Bower, who on 1 February 1935 was promoted to
captain, was appointed as a
brigade major in Hong Kong from 1937 to 1938. On 1 January 1939 Bower was promoted to the
brevet rank of
major. Promoted on 1 February 1940 to major, Bower saw the early period of the Second World War in the War Office. However, on 23 April 1941 he was promoted to the
acting rank of
lieutenant colonel and made
Commanding officer of the 1st Battalion,
Border Regiment. Later in the year the battalion was transferred to the
airborne forces and converted into a
glider infantry unit. He also served at Headquarters
1 Airborne Corps in North West Europe and participated in
Operation Market Garden, being personally involved in the attack by 1 Airborne Corps on
Arnhem in 1944. ==References==