The friendship between these two WWII heroes has survived the test of time

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- Eighty-nine-year-old Herb Bowman and 91-year-old Roy Christensen have a lot in common: Both are veterans and served during WWII.

Christensen, a Navy veteran, was assigned to the USS Raton in the south pacific while Bowman, an Army veteran, was guarding Los Alamos -- known back then as the “The Secret City” -- in New Mexico.

The two never met during the war, but it’s the friendship they’ve built post-war that brought them back together to live out their golden years in the same Centennial retirement community.

“It’s just a friendship that continued to blossom,” said Bowman.

The beginning of their friendship started in New Mexico, when the two coincidentally became next door neighbors. The two war heroes lived next to each other for nearly a decade before Bowman relocated to Colorado with his wife.

The two kept in touch but never thought they would see each other again.

Bowman moved to Holly Creek Retirement community shortly after his wife died, and when he learned of Roy’s recent wife’s death, he asked him to move to the same community. Today, the two pick up where decades long friendship left off.  

“It’s closeness that not too many people have,” said Christensen.