Corporal Cothren was a medic with Headquarters Battery, Division Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division. He was seriously wounded while tending his wounded comrades in Korea on 5 September 1950 and died of those wounds later that day.

Cothren was awarded the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.