Storming the beaches of Normandy a day after D-day and serving under General George Patton in 1944 are memories one does not easily forget.
Brown's first taste of what war-life was like came in 1918 when he was only 4 years old, living in Decatur. On Nov. 11, 1918, Brown and his mother joined a large crowd in the Decatur town square to celebrate Armistice Day, the end of World War I. Twenty-four years later, Brown, a graduate of Texas A&M University, found himself in Georgia for officer training in preparation for the United States' involvement in World War II. Two years later, in 1944, 2nd. Lt. Brown was thrown full tilt into the European campaign.
"When we got over there, the officers met with Gen. Patton, just like in the movie," Brown said with a laugh. "That rascal, he got right up there in front of that big flag and gave us the motivational speech and then we were off."
On June 7, 1944, the day after the initial landing at Normandy, Brown and his company hit the beaches of northern France. During that first tour, a bullet lodged in his arm, and Brown was forced to leave his company for medical attention.
"The bullet went into my forearm and down to my wrist and just kind of stayed there," he said. "It didn't really impede me or anything, but many soldiers back then were dying from infection and that's what really worried me."
After receiving treatment in England for a few months, Brown returned to find that only nine or 10 of the 200 men in his company were left alive.
"That was one of the realities of being Army infantry back then - you fought until you were either dead, wounded or the war was over," Brown said. "I lost 70 or 80 of my best friends over that, and that is something that really wears on you."
Brown was one of the lucky ones in the European campaign. He suffered only one other major injury - fragments from an artillery shell - with little or no residual physical effects. Mental trauma, however, is another story.
"Returning home was OK," Brown said, joking that his daughter was born nine months and 15 minutes later, "but I was really shaken up for years afterward. When you spend all that time in the trenches, sleeping so little, seeing men die, you become extremely paranoid. For years afterwards I would get severe anxiety attacks in big crowds. A lot of men don't like to talk about what they went through, but I do."
Brown spent most of his post-war life in Dallas, working for Lone Star Gas. He was married twice and has a daughter, Linda, and two step-daughters. A few months ago he moved into Governor's Ridge assisted living home. The walls of his room are decorated with pictures of his wives - both were named Ruth - medals from the war, including two Purple Hearts, and the bullet the doctors removed from his arm.
"You know, when I look back on it, it was just something that happened," he said. "We all had jobs to do, and we did them. I'm just happy I survived. It was an honor to serve my country, and it saddens me to see the troops now not getting the support they deserve."
