Corporal Brown, Service Number 37474656 served with 66th Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, U.S. Army. He entered the service from South Dakota. He was awarded the Purple Heart.

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On May 9, 1924, Charles F. "Buster" Brown was born to Charles Raymond and Margaret Evangeline (Cox) Brown at Lead, South Dakota. He was their only son, and he lived at Lead his whole life, except for the six years in which he lived in Kansas City, Missouri. He had two sisters: Dorothy V. Lloyd of Pocatello, Idaho, and Marion L. Parker of Montpelier, Idaho.

Charles enlisted when he was eighteen, along with his friend Tom Rundle. (Note: Rundle was KIA in France on January 16, 1945.)

Charles entered active service on February 25, 1943, at Ft. Crook, Nebraska. He was transferred to the Enlisted Reserve Corps and reported for active duty on March 4, 1943, at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. First, Charles went to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for his basic training. He began training in the tank corps. Corporal Brown left the United States for foreign service on April 6, 1944.

Corp. Brown first went to England; he was transferred into the infantry just before the Invasion of Normandy. He was later relocated to France two or three days after D-Day. On July 29, 1944, Army Corp. Charles F. Brown was wounded in the upper thigh by small arms fire. He died five days later on August 4, 1944. He was only twenty years old. He was awarded the Purple Heart and a Presidential Citation.

"He always said he was going to live until he was 21 then he was going to get married," said his sister, Marion. Charles F. Brown was buried at Cambridge American Cemetery in Cambridgeshire, England.

I hope this summary pays him a tribute.

This entry was respectfully submitted to the FALLEN SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF SOUTH DAKOTA PROJECT by Kyra Klosterman, 8th Grade West, Spearfish Middle School, Spearfish, South Dakota, May 7, 1999. Information for this entry was provided by Marion L. Parker of Montpelier, Idaho, sister of Charles Brown.