Hezekiah Bowen

Who is Hezekiah Bowen?

John Hezekiah Bowen was an officer of the Armed Forces of Liberia.

Bowen joined the AFL in 1969. Bowen joined the Officer Candidate School at the Military Academy in Todee in March 1971 and graduated in October 1971. He then received promotion to the rank of Second Lieutenant.

Following the 1980 coup, General Bowen was the first Superintendent of Grand Cape Mount County in the People’s Redemption Council Government of Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe.

He also served as Commanding Officer of the 2nd Infantry Battalion and Deputy Commanding General of the AFL.

He also served as Minister of National Defense, Minister of Rural Development as well as member of the Board of Directors of the National Veteran Commission.

Charles Taylor invaded Liberia at Butuo in Nimba County on Christmas Eve 1989 with a force of around 150 men, initiating the First Liberian Civil War. Doe responded by sending two AFL battalions to Nimba in December 1989 – January 1990, under Bowen, who was then a Colonel. The Liberian government forces assumed that most of the Mano and Gio peoples in the Nimba region were supporting the rebels. They thus acted in a very brutal and scorched-earth fashion which quickly alienated the local people. Taylor's support rose rapidly, as the Mano and Gio flocked to his National Patriotic Front of Liberia seeking revenge. Many government soldiers deserted, some to join the NPFL. Doe quickly replaced Bowen as his field commander; the inability of the AFL to make any headway was one of the reasons why Doe changed the commander in the area five times in the first six months of the war.