Alexander Foy

Your Boy, Jim Alexander Foy

This book aims to tell the story of James Austin Bowman as he navigated the Western Front during World War I. The book utilizes two main types of historical documents: the personal diary and the letters to his wife. During his time on the Western Front, Bowman wrote in a personal diary about the uncertainty and daily life of a soldier inching closer to war. Bowman also wrote over forty-three letters to his wife, Evelyn, as he shared his thoughts and emotions while the world was at war. For one hundred years, my family has preserved these historical documents. The book will use the diary and letters of James Bowman as main primary sources along with a variety of secondary sources on trauma, memory, and World War I. The first chapter introduces James Bowman and history regarding his early life and the life changing move to California. This chapter aims to analyze the diary within the story of James Bowman and the 91st Division. The second chapter allows the diary to serve as a guide to retell the story of James Bowman as the 91st Division inched closer to the Meuse Argonne Offensive. The third chapter examines a small but revealing and representative portion of the letters that James wrote to Evelyn on the Western Front. The letters offer a glimpse into their relationship as a newly married couple and how open he is to be sharing his thoughts and emotions during the fight of his life. The fourth chapter examines the impact of war on my family and how James Bowman's experience during World War I affected his family in shaping their worldview.