Meritorious Service Decorations - Military Division
Meritorious Service Medal
Awarded on: 1999-04-29
Invested on: 1999-09-10
From July 1996 to July 1998, then Lieutenant-Colonel Bowness was Chief Adviser, Operations to the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) in Phnom Penh. In that capacity, he acted as one of two senior international advisers to the Cambodian Director of CMAC and the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program in Cambodia. He displayed an extraordinary grasp of the recent history and social structure of Cambodia. His tireless effort, innovative thinking and rare cultural sensitivity made an unprecedented contribution to gaining world-wide recognition for CMAC. Lieutenant-Colonel Bowness' proposal to establish a regional centre for third-country demining training, his world-wide technical coordination network, and his contributions to policy and doctrine for demining, have earned him an international reputation and brought great credit to both the Canadian Forces and Canada.