Veteran Bob Brown speaks of military career

This Monday marks Memorial Day, a day for us to remember those who gave their lives to defend America and preserve our way of life. At the Hot Springs County Courthouse, a memorial plaque recognizes those soldiers of the 300th Armored Field Artillery Batallion who fought in the Korean War. Battery A personnel activated for Korea on Aug. 14, 1950, with members from Thermopolis among those who served. Robert “Bob” Brown was among them, though his military career began a couple decades prior.

Born and raised in Thermopolis, Brown graduated high school in 1943 and was drafted into the U.S. Army about a year later and was sent to Ft. Lewis, Wash. He noted the fort was a “big replacement depot” for the infantry and soldiers there were shipped to other organizations when those outfits were short of people.

Brown joined the 97th Infantry Division in California. He recalled going to Camp Callan outside San Diego, where he learned how to land on islands. “They were kind of grooming us for the South Pacific,” he said.

After World War II, he noted, the 97th Division was one of the most travelled divisions in the Army and it’s not hard to see why. The unit was sent across the country on a troop train, to the east coast. They were sent on to Europe, travelling in a big convoy with several warships keeping them safe from submarines. As another protection against subs, he said, they went on the Great Northern Circle route. “It was very cold,” Brown said, “but they felt that was a safer route.”

Eventually the unit landed in Le Havre, France, where they stayed while their vehicles caught up with them, and then took off through Belgium and Germany. When the war was over, they were in the Bavarian Alps. Brown was with an anti-tank division, and he explained there was a crew with each 57-millimeter gun — pulled by a truck that also carried ammunition — and at each stop the crew set up perimeter to defend against any tanks.

“At that time, that was a pretty good gun,” Brown said of the 57 mm. “Today, it’s just like a BB gun compared to what they have.”

With the war ending soon, Brown said it was his infantry division’s job to come through Germany and meet the Russians — our allies at the time — coming down from the north.

While in the mountains Brown said his squad was chosen to go to a country estate up on one of the mountain to intercept any German troops that might be trying to get over the border and turn them over to the MP’s down below. He said all the squad, about 10-12 men, were growing tired of their c rations, though the elderly couple who ran the estate cooked for them “and, oh, it was wonderful.”

When he returned to the US, Brown had a 30-day furlough before heading southward for more training for the South Pacific. Another troop train took them back across the country, this time to a port in Seattle, and they left with troops getting ready to land on the shores of Japan.

“We were out on the ocean for maybe a week,” Brown said, “and they dropped the atom bomb and so there was no need for us anymore.” Instead, they stopped in the Philippines to see if they needed us there. They didn’t so they took us on to Japan. We were some of the first occupation troops in Japan.”

As he had accumulated more points than most for time spent overseas, Brown was among those who received his pass home early. He was placed on active reserve, on which he stayed until joining the National Guard in Thermopolis. It was during his time in the Guard that he went to serve in the Korean War with the 300th Armored Field Artillery Batallion A Battery, which he noted were “all boys from Thermopolis.”

Brown further added the 300th just recently deployed from Casper, but they are now a missile battery. “We had 105 millimeter artillery guns in Korea.” There weren’t many young men left in town when the troops headed out. The 300th Batallion was known as the Cowboy Cannoneers and they made sure to let people know where they were from as they posted a “Now Entering Wyoming” sign wherever they set up headquarters.

“We were fortunate, there wasn’t a one of us [from Thermopolis] that was killed,” Brown said. “There were many who got Purple Hearts from various things.” He was wounded by shrapnel to the arm and recalled when the battalion was supposed to go down a canyon. The 97th Division headquarters saw they were called the 300th Armored Field Artillery Batallion and thought they were safe. “They didn’t know we didn’t have anything on top of us. We weren’t like a tank. We had track vehicles with our gun, but it was all open on top.”

The Chinese and North Koreans were above firing down on top of them, and there was limited space for them to turn around — which they had to one at a time — and return to the mouth of the canyon. “That was a bad one. A lot of our guys were wounded really bad.”

After getting back to the mouth of the canyon, where a tent was set up for the wounded, they stayed the night and the following day a plane picked them up and took them to Pusan. After his stay in the hospital, Brown returned to the unit but noted it was close to his time to return home.

Brown said it felt good to return to Thermopolis. Under the GI bill, he enrolled at Colorado A & M — now Colorado State — in Fort Collins. He and several others went to the school, and George McCormick had a brother who lived there. McCormick called his brother, who fixed them up with a living space in the basement of a downtown building.

However, Brown never finished his schooling there. He got appendicitis and had to have his appendix removed, and his counselor advised him to go home, heal up and start the next quarter. While in Thermop, a substitute was needed at the post office. Brown started there and worked for the post office for more than 40 years.

Brown and his wife Jeralyn were married while he was in the service, on Sept. 18, 1949. Her brother, John Dodge, also served in the Korean War. Every fourth week Brown and Dodge deliver for Meals on Wheels, and the Browns regularly get meals delivered through the same program. “It’s a wonderful program they have there at the senior center.

Brown enjoys Thermopolis and wouldn’t live anywhere else. He’s had opportunities to move to bigger offices and turned them down. The couple’s daughter, Bobbi, is married to Senator John Barrasso and their son Mike works for Exxon Mobil in Dallas.