COL Melvin W. Rowell, served 33 years which includes the 4 years at West Point.

MILITARY SERVICE:
1886 U.S. Military Academy, West Point, Class of 1890

1890 First tour of duty: Western Frontier, AZ, NM, and MT among the Apache, Navajo, Moqui, Sioux, Crow, and Cheyenne Indians

1895 Detached from Field Service to serve as an Instructor for the NJ National Guard

1898 Spanish-American War: April 25 – August 25, 1898, Cuba

1899 – 1902 Philippine Insurrection

1906 – 1909 Cuban Pacification

8/1914 – 6/1915 Major of Cavalry, Student Army War College

6/1915 – 3/1916 Army War College, retained as faculty

3/1916 – 12/1916 with John Pershing in Mexico Punitive Expedition

3/14/1918 – 3/30/1918 7th Col. Comdg. 15th Cavalry, and convoy troops en route to Brest, France

4/1918 – 5/1918 Landing Officer, American Base at Bordeaux, France (Note: Soon after arrival at Brest the 15th Cavary was split up and widely scattered on Remount Service to Field Artillery. This terminated the service of the Command and Field Service of that Regiment.)

5/31/1918 – 3/10/1919 Organization and Command of Base 6 AEF (under General Harbord) with Hdqrs. at Marseille, France. Note: Base 6 included Southern France between the Pyrenees and the Alps and was generally known as the best-organized and one of the most efficiently administrated Bases in France. For his service, which in its scope and importance was normally that of a General Officer, the following honors were accorded COL Rowell:
English – Companion, St. Michel, and St. George
French – Legion d’honneur
American – Citation by General Pershing

CIVILIAN SERVICE:
In March 1919 Colonel Rowell retired from the Army at his request and accepted a position as representative for southern France and North Africa with the Foundation Company of New York. For the next nine years, he was in business in France and in Algiers, Algeria.
Upon his return to the U.S. in May 1928 he lived in Manchester, NH, and in 1932 at Northwood Narrows where he farmed and became an active member of the community. In 1939 he was elected to the NH House of Representatives by his town and at the outbreak of World War II, Governor Robert O. Blood appointed him chairman of the Public Committee of the NH State Council of Defense. Working closely with Adjutant General, Charles F. Brown, Coloner Rowell organized the Air Raid Protective Service and the Ground Observation Corps.

The Colonel was also an active member of the American Legion, serving as commander of the Everett J. Bourdon Post No. 73 of Northwood (1934-1938) and post adjutant (1943-1946).

Colonel Rowell died at the Veteran’s Hospital in Manchester, NH on 5 August 1965, and was buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Northwood Narrows, NH.