Henry Kenneth Bowers, a retired real estate appraiser active in the Boy Scouts, died of pneumonia Sunday at St. Joseph Medical Center. The former Stoneleigh resident was 85.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Franklintown, he was a 1942 Polytechnic Institute graduate.
During World War II, he served as a ship's electrician and was assigned to a landing craft designed to carry six tanks and support crew to the beach while under fire.
Family members said he landed with the sixth wave at Utah Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
His boat was hit by a shell that day, and he was wounded by shrapnel in his spine.
He continued to land tanks and evacuate wounded soldiers until 45 days later.
He returned to London, where physicians examined his back, but he declined surgery for several months.
He was training for the invasion of the main Japanese islands when the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima ended the war.
He continued to serve in the Naval Reserve and was called back to active duty during the Korean War.
After World War II, he attended the old Baltimore Commerce College and earned a bachelor's degree at Loyola College.
He became a property manager and real estate appraiser and worked for the old Maryland National Bank and later the Bank of Baltimore.
He also worked for the old State Roads Commission and managed land it owned.
He was a longtime member of Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, where he ran the Sunday school.
He was also active in Boy Scout Troop 35 at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. He served as assistant Scoutmaster, institutional representative and a district commissioner.
He earned a Wood Badge for his work in adult leader training.
A Mason, he belonged to the Washington Lodge and was active in the Order of DeMolay, the youth branch of the Masons.
Services will be held 2 p.m. Saturday at the chapel at Oak Crest Village, 8810 Walther Blvd., where he had lived for the past six years.
Survivors include his wife of nearly 50 years, the former Annarose Sleeth; three sons: Doran Henry Bowers of Terra Alto, W.Va., Clarke Daniel Bowers of Baltimore and Keith Wallace Brierley-Bowers of Owings Mills; and three granddaughters.