He was serving with the I Marine Expeditionary Force when they were deployed to the Dominican Republic aboard USS Boxer during Operation Powerpack in April 1965.

Lownds was criticised by some for failing to send reinforcements to Lang Vei when it came under attack on the night of 6–7 February 1968, but he defended his decision on the basis that Khe Sanh itself was under artillery attack with a ground assault believed to be imminent and that any attempt to reinforce Lang Vei at night would be suicidal.

He could appear as a meek, low-keyed, distracted, and even stupid man (some reporters referred to him privately as "The lion of Khe Sanh"), as though he had been carefully picked for just these qualities by a cynical command as a front for its decisions...

He was a small man with vague, watery eyes, slightly reminiscent of a rodent in a fable, with one striking feature: a full, scrupulously attended regimental moustache... His professed ignorance of Dien Bien Phu drove correspondents crazy, but it was a dodge.

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps.