Donald Herbert Cowart (December 16, 1947 – April 28, 2019), better known as Dax Cowart, was an attorney and a former United States Air Force pilot who served in the Vietnam War. He was born in Henderson, Texas. In 1973, Cowart sustained debilitating injuries from a propane gas explosion that resulted in the loss of his hands and eyes. He suffered significant hearing loss, and was so severely burned over most of his body that the only place where his skin remained undamaged was on the bottom of his feet. Prior to the accident, he was known to his family and friends as Don or Donnie; however, after the accident he changed his first name to Dax because it was a rather uncommon name, easier for him to write, and it helped to avoid the embarrassment he felt after responding to someone he though