Thompson thinks the two men Bowers saw were "behind" the fence (see excerpt below). They weren't. They were in front.
As Bowers testified:
Mr. BOWERS - "Directly in line,
towards the mouth of the underpass, there were two men. One man, middle-aged, or slightly older, fairly heavy-set, in a white shirt, fairly dark trousers. Another younger man, about midtwenties, in either a plaid shirt or plaid coat or jacket."
Note:
Plaid shirt/coat/jacket.. The obvious choice of clothing for any sniper.
And:
Mr. BOWERS - They were standing within 10 or 15 feet of each other, and gave no appearance of being together, as far as I knew.
And:
Mr. BOWERS - He [DPD motorcycle officer Haygood] came up into this area where there are some trees, and where I had described the two men were in the general vicinity of this.
Mr. BALL - Were the two men there at the time?
Mr. BOWERS - I--as far as I know, one of them was. The other I could not say. The darker dressed man was too hard to distinguish from the trees. The white shirt, yes; I think he was.
The man in plaid coat/jackert is on the left below. To his right is the older man in the white shirt (most likely Emmett Hudson, the Plaza grounds keeper). These are, based on all of his statements, the two men I think Bowers saw "towards the mouth of the underpass." You can't be "towards the mouth of the underpass" if you are behind the fence.
Note: Bowers never mentions hearing a shot from the fence. Or seeing anyone with a rifle. These are called clues, clues there wasn't a gunman behind the fence. In JFK conspiracy world they are clues there *was* a gunman. But of course.

Here is Thompson in his book. Notice the dismissal of Bower's friends' accounts? "Garbled at best". In fact, if you read the entire section on Bowers you'll see that Thompson is dismissal of him too. He wants to use selected parts of Bowers account to support his more important witness: Sam Holland.

You can read his book online here:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Last_Second_in_Dallas/2MnDEAAAQBAJ?hl=en