The Wall › Panel 37E › Minnesota › Leslie Lawrence Cowden
LESLIE LAWRENCE COWDEN
Specialist Five · U.S. Army
August 24, 1946 – February 3, 1968
Service recordLeslie Lawrence Cowden, of Cedar, Minnesota, served as a Specialist Five in the U.S. Army. He died on February 3, 1968, in Hua Nghia Province, South Vietnam, at age 21. His name is inscribed on Panel 37E, Line 8 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 37E · Line 8
Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.
Remember
Did you know him? Family members and friends are invited to share a photograph or a memory. Nothing is posted until it has been reviewed.
Service
- Branch
- U.S. Army
- Rank
- Specialist Five (SP5)
- Service
- Regular
- Occupation
- Medical Specialist (91B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 25 INF DIV
- Born
- August 24, 1946
- Home of record
- Cedar, Minnesota (Anoka County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- February 3, 1968
- Age
- 21
- Province
- Hua Nghia
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Hostile
- Category
- Killed in Action
- Circumstance
- Grenade
Context · from the records
What was happening
71 names on the Wall carry the date February 3, 1968; three of them were lost in Hua Nghia Province. In February 1968, 2,260 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 25th Infantry Division, his unit in the record, lost 232 of its members that month.
He died in Hua Nghia Province while the Tet Offensive was under way. Beginning on the night of 30–31 January 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and towns across South Vietnam, including the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. February 1968 was the deadliest month of the war for Americans.
Also on Panel 37E, Line 8
- LEON HAMNERSpecialist Four · February 3, 1968
- HAROLD S HIGGINBOTHAMPrivate First Class · February 3, 1968
- EDWARD WENDELL HUGHEYPrivate First Class · February 3, 1968
- CHARLES SID JACKSONPrivate First Class · February 3, 1968
Same unit, same day
- LEON ANDERSON JRPrivate First Class · Panel 37E, Line 1
- LARRY GEORGE CANNONSpecialist Four · Panel 37E, Line 4
- VERNON ZIGMAN JOHNSSergeant First Class · Panel 37E, Line 5
- BRUCE EINAR ENGSTROMSpecialist Four · Panel 37E, Line 6
- GLEN OTIS ERVINSpecialist Four · Panel 37E, Line 6
- EUGENE M KORECKICaptain · Panel 37E, Line 9
- EDWARD MCCORVEY JRSpecialist Four · Panel 37E, Line 11
- HOWARD SADLER JRCorporal · Panel 37E, Line 13
- DALE HOWARD SCHMIDTPrivate First Class · Panel 37E, Line 14
- MARION EARL WILSONPrivate First Class · Panel 37E, Line 16
From Cedar
- PETER BURR HEDLUNDSergeant · February 9, 1968
Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.