Heroes Among Us: Two-time Purple Heart recipient finds healing during Southwest Florida Honor Flight

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - owman, Southwest Florida Honor Flight’s 25th mission was more than an opportunity to visit the memorials honoring America’s service members. It was a chance to confront memories he had carried for years and honor the men who never made it home.“People call me a hero. I’m not a hero. The heroes are the ones on the wall,” Bowman said. “They gave all. And it’s true. I gave some, but they gave it all.”Bowman served 31 years in the military, including time with the 82nd Airborne Division and deployments to Panama and Iraq.During that service, he was wounded in two separate conflicts, earning two Purple Hearts.His first came in 1989 during a military operation in Panama, when he was wounded while parachuting into the country.“We parachuted in. I got wounded in the air. Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane,” Bowman recalled. “People ask me, why do you jump out of the airplane? Because, you know, somebody got to do it. I chose to do it.”Years later, in 2006, Bowman