Douglas Easton Cox was born in Beaver City, Beaver County, Utah on October 8, 1929, the second child of John Kenneth Cox and Irene Jane Easton. John Kenneth and Irene Jane had four children. Doug's brothers and sister were: Kenneth Warren Cox, born on November 18, 1922 in Beaver City; Charles Ray Cox, born on May 3, 1932 in Beaver City and Mona Lee Cox, also born in Beaver City.

Kenneth Warren died on January 20, 2008 in Gallipolis, Gallia County, Ohio, Charles Ray died on March 19, 1999 in Ricgeway, County, Utah and Douglas Easton died on August 2, 1971 in Garberville. Mona Lee lives with her husband William "Bill" Messenger in Brookings, Oregon.

Doug served in the war with North Korea, serving with the Beaver City National Guard. He held the rank of Corporal. The following is engraved on his tombstone:

CPL II ABN 014 PRHT MAINT CO

The Korean War began on 25 June 1950 when North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel in an invasion of South Korea. Korea was a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945, and had been divided into Soviet and American occupation zones along the 38th parallel at the conclusion of World War II. When American and Soviet occupation forces were withdrawn from Korea in 1949, two rival regimes were left behind, both claiming the right to rule an undivided Korea. Implementing the Truman Doctrine--". . . to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures"--the United States quickly secured a United Nations Security Council resolution to assist South Korea to repel the armed attack while the Soviet delegate to the United Nations was boycotting meetings in protest of America's refusal to allow the seating of the Chinese Communist delegation. Although Korea was a United Nations action and fourteen other countries did send 50,000 men, the 350,000 American troops sent to the country made up nearly 90 percent of the United Nations' forces. Among these were 7,564 Utahns who served in Korea on active duty between June 1950 and the cease-fire which was negotiated in July 1953.

Utah had five battalions of the National Guard called up, which included approximately 2,070 officers and men, or 61.7 percent of the entire Utah Army National Guard, and all of the Utah Air National Guard. Units came from throughout the state: Beaver, Richfield, Fillmore, St. George, Cedar City, Logan, Smithfield, Garland, Brigham City, Salt Lake City, Provo, Pleasant Grove, Nephi, Mount Pleasant, and Spanish Fork. The units called up included the 204th Field Artillery Battalion, the 213th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, the 145th Field Artillery Battalion, the 653rd Field Artillery Observation Battalion, the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, the 115th Engineer Combat Battalion, the 190th Fighter Squadron, the 191st Weather Station, the 130th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, and the 210th Tow Target Flight. Of these units, three--the 204th Field Artillery Battalion, the 213th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, and the 145th Field Artillery Battalion--served in Korea. The first of these, the 204th, was inducted into federal service on 19 August 1950 and sailed for Korea on board the troop transport USS General A.E. Anderson on 16 January 1951.

Six hundred men from five small southern Utah communities--Richfield, Fillmore, Beaver, Cedar City and St. George--were activated in 1950. Typical duty required the field artillery units to fire their howitzer guns at the enemy miles away. However, the units from Cedar City and Richfield, with about 225 men engaged in one particular small arms and hand-to-hand fight at Kapyong with more than 4000 enemy Chinese for about a 12-hour period. They killed 500 and captured 800 Chinese. The Utah battalion sustained no fatalities. In fact, all 600 of the original southern Utahns came back alive. The unit received a Presidential citation for “unshakeable determination and gallantry.” The battalion’s commander was Lt. Colonel Frank Dalley.