- SURNAME
Rowe
- FORENAME
James Nicholas (Nick)
- UNIT
SF (Joint Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG),Philippines)
- RANK
Colonel
- NUMBER
- DATE OF DEATH
21st April 1989
- AGE
51
- GRAVESITE
Arlington National Cemetery,Virginia Section 48 Site 2165
- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 8.2.1938 McAllen,Texas
son of Lee Delavan and Florence (nee Survillo) Rowe
husband of Mary Rowe,Manila,Philippines (2 sons)
resided Potomac,Maryland 1973
graduated McAllen High School 1956
graduated USMA,West Point 8.6.1960
5 SF Group (Det A-23) in Vietnam (1st Lt)
POW 29.10.1963 South Vietnam
escaped 31.12.1968
married 1st wife Jane Caroline Benson 27.12.1969 (2 daughters)
retired from Army as Major 1974
rejoined as LtCol 1981
5 SF Group (Bn commander)
JFK Special Warfare Center and School,Fort Bragg (Instructor) 1985-87
JUSMAG,Philippines May 1988
author "Five Years to Freedom" 1971
awards include Silver Star,Legion of Merit,2 Bronze Stars
killed by communist New Peoples Army (NPA),Luzon City,Manila,Philippines
Nick Rowe was born on February 8, 1938, in McAllen, Texas. He entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in June 1956 and graduated with a commission as a 2LT of Artillery on June 8, 1960. Rowe was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from August 1960 to May 1961, and during this time he completed Airborne School, Ranger School, and the Artillery Officer Basic Course. Lt Rowe next served with the 7th Special Forces Group and then the 5th Special Forces Group (SFG) of 1st Special Forces at Fort Bragg from May 1961 to July 1963. During this time he completed Language School at the Presidio of Monterey, California. Rowe went on TDY with the 5th SFG to the Republic of Vietnam in July 1963, and was captured and taken as a Prisoner of War by the Viet Cong on October 29, 1963. After spending 1,891 days in captivity, Maj Rowe escaped on December 31, 1968, and made his way to friendly forces. He was briefly hospitalized to recover from his injuries at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and then served as an instructor with the Army Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, from June 1969 to September 1970. Rowe then went into Army Intelligence, serving at Fort Holabird, Maryland, from September 1970 to June 1971, and then with the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C., from June 1971 until he left active duty on February 1, 1974. Col Rowe returned to active duty on March 12, 1981, and served as Chief of the Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, until May 1985, when he was made Commander of the First Special Warfare Training Battalion at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center, also at Fort Bragg. In May 1988 Col Rowe was assigned as the Chief of the Army Division of the Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group in the Philippines. He was assassinated by Communist guerrilas in Quezon City, a suburb of Manila, on April 21, 1989. Nick Rowe was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on May 2, 1989.
DATE OF DEATH:
21-Apr-1989
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