Cowan, Kay Kipling, COL

Deceased
 
 Photo In Uniform   Service Details
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Last Rank
Colonel
Last Service Branch
Infantry
Last Primary MOS
5505-Information Officer
Last MOS Group
Adjutant General
Primary Unit
1967-1968, American Forces Information Service
Service Years
1938 - 1968
Infantry
Colonel
Five Overseas Service Bars

 Last Photo   Personal Details 

3 kb


Home State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Year of Birth
1914
 
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Contact Info
Home Town
Alexandria, VA
Last Address
Altus, OK
Date of Passing
Aug 29, 2005
 
Location of Interment
Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates
Sec: 64, Site: 4239

 Official Badges 

Office of Secretary of Defense Belgian Fourragere Infantry Shoulder Cord US Army Retired (Pre-2007)

Meritorious Unit Commendation


 Unofficial Badges 




 Military Associations and Other Affiliations
National Cemetery Administration (NCA)
  2005, National Cemetery Administration (NCA)


 Additional Information
Last Known Activity:


Kay Kipling Cowan, 91, a retired Army Colonel and former military assistant to Senator Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), died Aug. 29 at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital of respiratory arrest and complications of bladder cancer. He was a longtime Alexandria resident.


Colonel Cowan was born in Altus, Oklahoma, the youngest of nine children. He graduated from Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State University) in 1938 and was commissioned in the Army Reserve. He received a bachelor's degree in 1947 and a master's degree in 1948, both in journalism from the University of Missouri at Columbia.
 
In 1938, he became a reporter and sports editor for the Altus Times-Democrat, a newspaper he had delivered on horseback as a boy. He stayed at the Times-Democrat until June 1941, when he enlisted in the Army. After basic training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, he underwent ski training in Wisconsin.


A company commander, he led his unit into combat as part of the Normandy invasion on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Wounded six days later while fighting in the French hedgerows, he returned in August to command B Company of the 2nd Division, 23rd Infantry, at Brest, France. He recalled the early days of the Battle of the Bulge in written accounts for his children: "My company was in fierce fights for several days holding off several German attacks, including tanks, with practically no antitank weapons, no artillery support and no air support -- cold, wet and snowing!"


Colonel Cowan stayed in the Army after the war and served as a military observer supporting the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. After completing advanced infantry and paratrooper training at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1952, at 38, he served as secretary of the general staff at 1st Army headquarters on Governor's Island in New York. He also was chief of the public affairs division in Germany and commanding officer of the 2nd Battle Group, based in Bamberg, Germany.


He was deputy director of Armed Forces Radio and Television Service from 1962 to 1967 and deputy director of the Office of Information in the office of the secretary of defense in 1967-68. He retired in 1968.


His military awards included the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart and two awards of the Bronze Star.


In 1968, he became military assistant to Thurmond, a position that allowed him to combine his devotion to the Army and concern for the welfare of its soldiers with his interest in journalism. During more than two decades on the senator's staff, he helped write legislation that benefited service personnel, including the Survivor Benefit Plan. He retired again in 1991.


Colonel Cowan was a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria. His pastimes included tennis, golf and bridge.


Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Maxine E. Cowan of Alexandria; four children, Nancy C. Joseph of San Antonio, Carol A. Daly of North Augusta, S.C., Carmen J. Fielding of Fairfax City and Mark S. Cowan of Columbia, S.C.; nine grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

   
 Photo Album   (More...



WWII - European Theater of Operations/Northern France Campaign (1944)/Battle for Brest
From Month/Year
August / 1944
To Month/Year
September / 1944

Description
The Battle for Brest (7 August 1944 – 19 September 1944) was one of the fiercest battles fought on the Western Front during World War II. Part of the Allied plan for the invasion of mainland Europe called for the capture of port facilities, in order to ensure the timely delivery of the enormous amount of war materiel required to supply the invading Allied forces. It was estimated that the 37 Allied divisions to be on the continent by September 1944 would need 26,000 tons of supplies each day. The main port the Allied forces hoped to seize and put into their service was Brest, in northwestern France.

Brest was surrounded and eventually stormed by the U.S. VIII Corps. The fight proved extremely difficult, as the German garrison was well entrenched and partially made up of elite Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) forces.

Military Hospital Brest France Oct 1944
The German paratroopers lived up to their reputation, as the Allies had experienced previously in battles such as Monte Cassino. Whilst some less capable units surrendered quite easily, the Fallschirmjäger defended their ground under considerable odds, heavy shelling, air strikes and American assaults. The attackers had heavy losses for every small advance they made into the city.

As per their military doctrine, the Americans tried to use their superior artillery firepower and air superiority to overcome the defenders, instead of fighting them hand-to-hand. The Germans had stocked a considerable amount of ammunition for the defense of the city and had weapons of all calibers (from light flak to naval guns) dug in fortifications and in pillboxes. Elements of the specialised British 79th Armoured division came in to attack the heavily fortified Fort Montbarey. Flame throwing Churchill Crocodile tanks along with US infantry took three days to overcome the fort.

The fighting was intense, the troops moving house to house. The fortifications (both French and German built) proved very difficult to overcome, and heavy artillery barrages were fired by both sides.

Eventually the old city of Brest was razed to the ground during the battle, with only some old medieval stone-built fortifications left standing.

General Ramcke surrendered the city on 19 September 1944 to the Americans after rendering the port facilities useless. These would not be repaired in time to help the war effort as it was hoped. By this time, Paris had already been liberated by the Allied Armies, and Operation Market-Garden was already under way in the Netherlands.

The costly capture of Brest resulted in the decision to only surround the remaining German-occupied ports in France with the exception of those that could be captured from the march, instead of storming them in a set-piece battle. The exception was Le Havre, which was taken by the British 2nd Army on 12 September 1944. Some of these Breton ports surrendered only by 9 May 1945, one day after Victory in Europe Day.
   
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
August / 1944
To Month/Year
September / 1944
 
Last Updated:
Mar 16, 2020
   
Personal Memories
   
Units Participated in Operation

644th Tank Destroyer Battalion

 
My Photos From This Battle or Operation
No Available Photos

  47 Also There at This Battle:
 
  • Austin, John, S/SGT, (1943-1945)
  • Brown, James, 1LT, (1942-1945)
  • Haight, Lewis, SGT, (1943-1946)
  • Lee, James, T/5, (1942-1945)
  • Neuwirth, Frank, 1ST SGT, (1942-1945)
  • Reed, Elis, Cpl, (1943-1946)
  • Van Noy, Barney, SGT
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