HONORED ON PANEL 12W, LINE 57 OF THE WALL
WILLIAM ANTHONY BROWN
WALL NAME
WILLIAM A BROWN
PANEL / LINE
12W/57
DATE OF BIRTH
CASUALTY PROVINCE
DATE OF CASUALTY
HOME OF RECORD
COUNTY OF RECORD
STATE
BRANCH OF SERVICE
RANK
REMEMBRANCES
LEFT FOR WILLIAM ANTHONY BROWN
POSTED ON 5.6.2002
POSTED BY: Dan Kellum
Echo 1, 2/1 radio operator
I didn't know this young man but I visited with his platoon out in the western Area of Responsibility (AO)around Le Bong or An Thrach in March 1970. I was odd man out officer and assigned to the Weapons Platoon Commander's job which entailed visiting all the platoons in Echo Co. to make sure the heavy weapons had everything they needed. I visited with 1st Plt. and met Brown and his radio-mate in the CP. The two young men were like Mutt n' Jeff inseparable. I seem to recall them coming up with bogus platoon numbered call signs like 1-8 and 1-9 or some such. They were always laughing and cracking jokes. The following is the Operation's report of how Brown died.
March 29, 1970: Echo 1 located BT088651 on 292055. Unit while in night activity site, received 3 or 4 incoming grenades resulting in one USMC KIA, and four USMC WIAs. Unit returned fire in northerly direction with negative results. Echo 3 units moved into area and rep-fired immediate area with negative results. Medevac completed by air.
And now from my viewpoint: Before darkness the night of March 29, the Vietnamese farmers were going in for the night to their barbed wire enclosed Strategic Hamlet to give us a free fire zone in our AO. They descended on our garbage dump and proceeded to rummage through it tossing empty cans all over the place and taking unwanted cans they would later open and eat. We were in a company-sized move and they caught us by surprise. Anyhow Echo's CO had the troops shoot over the peoples' heads to get them away from the dump (empty cans make for excellent boobytrap material). The people were frightened at first then ticked off at the Marines once they realized they weren't in any danger. The CO told the 1st Plts' lieutenant to set up a nighttime ambush around the garbage dump to keep anymore Vietnamese scavengers away. Later that night 2 VC/NVA enemy soldiers crawled in the sand right up to the squad and tossed in several grenades exploding amongst the Marines. The enemy soldiers fled after that as the entire company was only 400 meters away. The react squad found the plt. cmdr. screaming for a medevac into a severed PRC-25 receiver phone. His legs were shredded by one of the grenades. Brown was being given mouth-to-mouth by his best friend until the Navy Corpsman told him it was no use that he was gone. All this occurred in the Viem Dong ville area, about a click (1,000 meters) from 2/1's Old Battalion Rear area and about 3 clicks from the South China Sea. I replaced the injured plt. cmdr. at 1st Platoon so that's why I remember so much of what happened that night. A Memorial Service was held in May to honor all of the battalion's fallen Marines. This young man was among those cited. I read from Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, 1-8, at that service and almost lost it at "A time to be born, and a time to die." I just want his family to know he is not forgotten. Semper Fi, Dan Kellum, 1stLt. Echo Co., 2/1, Vietnam, Jan. 1970-Jan. 1971.
March 29, 1970: Echo 1 located BT088651 on 292055. Unit while in night activity site, received 3 or 4 incoming grenades resulting in one USMC KIA, and four USMC WIAs. Unit returned fire in northerly direction with negative results. Echo 3 units moved into area and rep-fired immediate area with negative results. Medevac completed by air.
And now from my viewpoint: Before darkness the night of March 29, the Vietnamese farmers were going in for the night to their barbed wire enclosed Strategic Hamlet to give us a free fire zone in our AO. They descended on our garbage dump and proceeded to rummage through it tossing empty cans all over the place and taking unwanted cans they would later open and eat. We were in a company-sized move and they caught us by surprise. Anyhow Echo's CO had the troops shoot over the peoples' heads to get them away from the dump (empty cans make for excellent boobytrap material). The people were frightened at first then ticked off at the Marines once they realized they weren't in any danger. The CO told the 1st Plts' lieutenant to set up a nighttime ambush around the garbage dump to keep anymore Vietnamese scavengers away. Later that night 2 VC/NVA enemy soldiers crawled in the sand right up to the squad and tossed in several grenades exploding amongst the Marines. The enemy soldiers fled after that as the entire company was only 400 meters away. The react squad found the plt. cmdr. screaming for a medevac into a severed PRC-25 receiver phone. His legs were shredded by one of the grenades. Brown was being given mouth-to-mouth by his best friend until the Navy Corpsman told him it was no use that he was gone. All this occurred in the Viem Dong ville area, about a click (1,000 meters) from 2/1's Old Battalion Rear area and about 3 clicks from the South China Sea. I replaced the injured plt. cmdr. at 1st Platoon so that's why I remember so much of what happened that night. A Memorial Service was held in May to honor all of the battalion's fallen Marines. This young man was among those cited. I read from Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, 1-8, at that service and almost lost it at "A time to be born, and a time to die." I just want his family to know he is not forgotten. Semper Fi, Dan Kellum, 1stLt. Echo Co., 2/1, Vietnam, Jan. 1970-Jan. 1971.
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