Private First Class Cowan was a member of Company M, 3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in South Korea on February 12, 1951 and died while a prisoner on June 17, 1951. His remains have been recovered and identified. PFC Cowan's name is permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.