Riverside Cemetery

Ralston, Pawnee County, Oklahoma

Submitted by: Terry Dudley

Thank You For Your Service!

Darrell Wayne Cowan

January 15, 1950 ~ February 2, 1971

Darrell Wayne Cowan Specialist Four

PERSONAL DATA
Home of Record: Fairfax, Oklahoma
Date of birth: Sunday, 01/15/1950

MILITARY DATA
Service: Army (Selective Service)
Grade at loss: E4
Rank: Specialist Four
ID No: 445502285
MOS: 62D20 Asphalt Equipment Operator
LenSvc: Not recorded
Unit: 610TH ENG CO, 937TH ENG GRP, 18TH ENG BDE

CASUALTY DATA
Start Tour: Sunday, 06/21/1970
Cas Date: Tuesday, 02/02/1971
Age at Loss: 21
Remains: Body Recovered
Location: Khanh Hoa, South Vietnam
Type: Hostile, Died
Reason: Artillery, Rocket, Mortar - Ground Casualty

ON THE WALL Panel 05W Line 073

A Note from The Virtual Wall 1LT Michael P. Austin, Belchertown, MA (B Co, 299th Eng Bn), and SP4 Darrell W. Cowan, Fairfax, OK (610th Eng Co), were killed in action on 02 Feb 1971. According to Mr. Huddleston's account on 1Lt Austin's memorial, the two men were in a jeep when a detail repairing a bridge was ambushed. The jeep was hit by a B-40 rocket, killing both men.

The "Holloway Database" of 1993, the most commonly used casualty database, indicates the two men were killed in a friendly fire incident. Official Army records confirm Mr. Huddleston's recollection that 1Lt Austin and SP4 Cowan were killed by enemy rocket fire.