USMA Class of 1944, Captain Crowell was the pilot of a F-51D Mustang night fighter with the 6146th Air Force Advisory Group (ROKAF), 5th Air Force. On October 1, 1950, while on a combat mission near Pyongyang, North Korea, his aircraft received a direct hit by anti-aircraft fire, crashed and burst into flames. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.