Ol'Harry

WHITSETT, NC VETERAN PUNCHED MANY TICKETS

Writing about veterans comes with distractions.  For example, when writing about Whitsett’s William Ira “Bill” Brown, one could easily be distracted by his years as a special investigator – think private eye.  Brown was chief investigator for a Richmond, VA insurance company and later for the Newport News Shipyards.  He moved to Whitsett in 2003 and formed his own private investigation company.

ARMY INFANTRY CAPTAIN AND RETIRED FBI SUPERVISOR
HAS MANY MEMORIES

Writing about his 23-year career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation could distract as well.  He served a year in Miami, FL; 12 years in Chicago, IL; and 10 years in Norfolk, VA.  He retired as Supervisor of Special Agents.  Writing about his service as a Supervisor of an Organized Crime Squad in Chicago is particularly tempting.

Or, we could write about Brown’s childhood – he was the eighth of eleven children born to a Jones County, NC tenant farmer – two died in infancy.  Brown was the last of his family to be delivered at home by the community mid-wife, Sister Miley Brock.  “I teased my younger siblings because they were ‘hospital babies’ (Parrott/Lenoir County Hospital in Kinston).

MARIAN BROWN SUTTON STILL LOVES HER LITTLE BROTHER
WHO LOVES HER BACK JUST AS MUCH

When we questioned where she got all those babies, Sister Brock insisted she found them in a ‘Stump Hole’ in the woods.”

The Brown family’s connection to NCA&T University could derail a veterans story. There is no Brown Building on campus, but Brown’s mother, Agnes Meadows Brown, was the school’s Mother of the Year in 1962.

With just cause -- her children; Thomas, Robert, Sadie, Marian, Raymond, Cecil, and Bill all attended NCA&T.  Leslie and Clement attended Davidson and Wake Forest University respectively.  The observation that all nine surviving children of a tenant farmer attended college could certainly take you off topic. 

   

Brown’s two years with the Peace Corps is a stand-alone story, but space only permits paragraphs.

“I was accepted by the Peace Corps during my sophomore year at NCA&T.  After three months of outward bound-type training at the University of New Mexico I joined a three-person team in Brazil.  Our team was politically correct – a German girl had health services, a Jewish guy had community development and I had agricultural extension.  We worked in a semi-arid part of the country – the main thing I remember -- most of the plants were thorny! 

We were paid a small stipend and $75 per month was placed in our bank accounts back home.  The stipend was small, but seemed large by Brazilian standards – when cashed, it amounted to a briefcase full of their currency.”

With Brown’s completion of Peace Corps service came his return to NCA&T and his eligibility for the draft.  “After summer school in 1965, I was drafted into the Army.  Following basic and advanced infantry training at Fort Gordon, GA I was assigned to the Live Fire Firing Range.”

Brown was selected for officer’s training school at Fort Benning, GA.  He graduated in November, 1966 -- tenth in his class of 150.  “I was assigned to my previous firing range at Fort Gordon.  Commanding the same soldiers I had served with as an enlisted man was interesting.  Fortunately, I knew which sergeants I could depend on to keep me from messing up!”

FORMER CAPTAIN BILL BROWN EXTREMELY
PROUD OF HIS "WOLFHOUND" SERVICE

It was more “when” than “if” that Brown would serve in Vietnam. “I arrived in country in April, 1967.  I took over a platoon in the 25^th Infantry Division’s, Charlie Company 1/27 Infantry (Wolfhounds) on May 6, 1967 -- two of my men were killed that night.  I prayed to God for His protection to get me through Vietnam – thankfully, He did.”

PLATOON LEADER BILL BROWN TOOK HIS SOLDIERS ON DEADLY
MISSION HIS FIRST NIGHT IN VIETNAM

Brown lost one other man over the summer, and was wounded twice himself, but returned to combat duty after week-long hospital stays.  In November, 1967 he took over the 38^th Infantry Scout Dog Platoon. “We had about 25 German Shepherds for scouting, another platoon used Labrador Retrievers for tracking.”

In May, 1968, Brown was assigned to Fort Riley, KS where he commanded a unit at the Army Correctional Training Facility.  “That was a tough job, we saw the underside of the draft, combat, and lowered standards.”

He was promoted to captain in 1968 and honorably discharged in 1969.  He married his childhood sweetheart from Jones County, NC.  They had two children before she passed away in 1996 from breast cancer.  Brown later married Greensboro’s Tina Akers, who had two children. They have six grands.

Should Brown write the book I have recommended, the story of the medic who nursed him back to health in Vietnam will be front and center.  “I heard a radio call that he had been hit.  Later, I learned he had lost both legs.  I’ve kept up with him over the years.  He has been teacher of the year in Florida and is a serious wheelchair sports competitor.”