Eighty years ago this month, a desperate Adolf Hitler caught the western allies off guard by launching one of the largest attacks in military history — what came to be called the Battle of the Bulge.
And a young Wichitan’s desperate fighting helped the allies stave off defeat.
Richard Eller Cowan was born in Lincoln, Neb., but grew up in Wichita, attending North High and then Friends University near the family’s home on North Glenn. Cowan eventually transferred to Oberlin College in Ohio, where his grandfather, father and uncles had graduated.
In mid-December 1944, he was a 22-year-old private first class and heavy machine gunner serving in the forests of Belgium.
According to the official record, German tank fire killed or wounded all but three men in Cowan’s section. Cowan “maintained his position, holding off the Germans until the rest of the shattered force had set up a new line along a firebreak. Then, unaided, he moved his machine gun and ammunition to the second position. At the approach of a Royal Tiger tank, he held his fire until about 80 enemy infantrymen supporting the tank appeared at a distance of about 150 yards. His first burst killed or wounded about half of those infantrymen. His position was rocked by an 88-mm shell when the tank opened fire, but he continued to man his gun, pouring deadly fire into the Germans when they again advanced.”
Cowan covered the withdrawal of his comrades. He was killed by enemy fire the next day and awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor, posthumously.
Cowan’s body was returned to Kansas in 1947 and is buried at Wichita Park Cemetery. After a member of American Legion Post No. 4 found the gravesite overgrown in 2021, the post adopted the site and has held a wreath-laying ceremony there every Memorial Day. The Military Order of the Purple Heart 558 is also named in his honor.
Contact Bob Rives at bprives@gmail.com.
