Joseph P. Bowden

First Seaman Joseph Bowden, 48 Briarcliff Road. According to a New York Times article, it was on June 30, 1918, when Bowden saw and reported a torpedo fired from a German U-Boat. His ship, the USS Covington, was off the coast of France returning to the United States after transporting American doughboys to the Western Front.

With smoke billowing from the boat and the engines disabled, the captain gave orders to abandon ship. As the crew took to the lifeboats, three sailors including Joseph Bowden were having trouble clearing one of the lifeboats. ''These three boys were chopping away some wooden clamps that held the boats together. When their chopping released the boat, it swung outward and the three lost their balance and fell overboard...landing in the water right where the torpedo had hit. The inrushing water pulled them in through the hole and they were lost."

Joseph Bowden is buried at the Brookwood American Cemetery in England, yet he is memorialized right here just a few blocks from where he lived.