Tom Derek Bowden

Tom Derek Bowden (1921–2019) was a British army officer noted for his role in 1948 Arab–Israeli War and helping create the Israeli Paratroopers Brigade.

Early life and military career Bowden was born in Surrey, the son of a well-to-do South London family.

In 1941, Bowden, now an officer, led a British cavalry charge into battle on horseback against Vichy forces in Vichy-held Syria-Lebanon. Bowden was badly wounded in the leg.

After six months recovery at the home of the Appel family in Tel Aviv, Bowden volunteered for the Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom). After the accidental shooting of Mickey Marcus, an American volunteer fighting for Israel who was mistaken for an Arab when he stepped from his field tent and did not realise that he was being asked in Hebrew for a password, the English-speaking 7th volunteer Brigade was formed.

In 1949, Chaim Laskov asked Captain Bowden to create a paratroop school, and to establish the predecessor of the Paratroopers Brigade. He did so, writing a training manual with the help of his Hebrew-speaking secretary Eva Heilbronner and training soldiers with British Army surplus equipment.