Pike County AlArchives Obituaries.....Brown, Pfc. John Eli (Johnny) April 14, 2003 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Alice Folmar Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008183 March 21, 2017, 12:13 pm The Troy Messenger April 23, 2003 An Abstract BROWN, PFC. JOHN ELI (JOHNNY) (b. 5-22-1981 – d. 4-14-2003) Funeral services for Pfc. John Eli (Johnny) Brown of Troy, Ala., Pike Co., will be held Wed., April 23, 2003, at 2 p.m. at Park Memorial United Methodist Church, 705 Elba Highway, Troy, with the reverend Mr. Steve Rascoe officiating. Visitation will be Tues., April 22, from 4 until 8 p.m. at Dillard Funeral Home in Troy. Pfc. Brown, age 21, who was stationed at Ft. Campbell, Ky., with the U.S. Army and was on deployment in Baghdad, Iraq, died in an unexploded-ordinance incident on Apr. 14, 2003. He was with the 101st Airborne Division and was driver for the company commander. [The “U.S. Casualties From Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts 2001-2012” Index lists Pfc. Brown as being a Signal Support Systems Specialist and his unit as being HHB 2D Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery, Fort Campbell, KY.] Burial will be at Ramah Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery about nine miles Northeast of Banks, Ala., in the Josie community of Pike County. The graveside service will include full military honors. Troy Mayor Jimmy Lunsford said the Army has planned a flyover of Blackhawk helicopters during the graveside service. Pfc. Brown’s survivors include his parents, Ed and Bonnie Brown of Troy; a sister and brother-in-law, Shane and Jessica Brown Tatum of Eufaula; a brother and sister-in-law, Shayne and Michell Brown of Banks; a niece, Madison Brown; nephews Weston Brown, Bryce Tatum, and Brayden Brown; grandmother, Bonnie J. Brown of Troy; aunts and uncles, Brenda and Jerry Marcum of Troy, Ray Brown of Montgomery, Randall and Dianne Brown of Montgomery, Ouida Faye and Leroy Watson of Semmes, Willardene and Lawrence Watson of Wilmer, Betty and Ben Andress of Troy, William Salter of Evergreen, and Dale and Dot Salter of Biloxi, Miss; and several cousins. The family asks that any memorial gifts be made to the Johnny Brown Memorial Fund at First National Bank in Troy or First National Bank in Brundidge – or mail c/o Jerry McLendon, P.O. Box 775, Brundidge, Ala., 36010. Call McLendon at 735-2351 for more information. [Troy Mayor Lunsford ordered all city flags to be lowered to half mast as soon as he was notified of Brown’s death. City workers assembled a flag and banner display in Bicentennial Park as a further honor to Brown.] Following is an additional newspaper account of Pfc. Brown's death: Abstracted from “The Troy Messenger” April 29, 2003 BROWN FEATURED IN NEWS – U.S. News & World Report carries story of Troy native Private First Class John Eli Brown of Troy, Pike Co., Ala., who was killed in Iraq, is the subject of a story by Julian Barnes in the April 28, 2003, issue of “U.S. News and World Report.” Barnes met Brown shortly before Brown’s death and wrote fondly of him. The journalist was embedded with Brown’s unit in Iraq, the 101st Airborne, and interviewed Brown for an article he planned about post-war reconstruction of Iraq. Brown died April 14 near the Baghdad Airport in an unexploded-ordinance incident that is yet under investigation by the military. He was buried on April 23, 2003, at Ramah Primitive Baptist Church cemetery. Journalist Barnes told “The Troy Messenger” in an interview: “I found out about an hour after it happened. … I was going to write an article about the peacekeeping mission that included some comments from him. I had left Brown a few days before and was at the headquarters when the radio call came through. I wasn’t sure what had happened and the command sergeant came out and I asked him what happened and he said Foley [Spc. Thomas Foley, III] and Brown had been killed.” Barnes continued in the interview: “I had just e-mailed his [Brown’s] mother the day before to say he was safe and sound and had seen him that morning. Afterwards, I ended up talking to a lot of people about Brown and Foley that night and writing down some thoughts. The next day, I told my editors that I wanted to do an article …” Barnes said the article showed a look at one soldier and the dangers even though the main fighting was over – and it showed growth and transformation of one soldier over the course of the war … gave “something worthwhile, not just to people who knew him, but to people who didn’t know anything about him or Troy, Ala.” Barnes attended Pfc. Brown’s funeral in Troy and the graveside service and met his parents. He described him in the US News article as “likeable and easygoing, a skinny 21-year-old with a big grin, always ready to help a soldier patch a radio or fixing other Joes up with smokes …” – and said he was a wonderful young man. According to “The Troy Messenger” article, USA Today reported on April 17 that Brown was killed in a grenade explosion near Baghdad – and that Foley also was killed and two other servicemen injured. Julian Barnes’ article on April 28 indicated that Foley, with a cone-shaped object in hand, approached a humvee containing Brown, a captain, and a lieutenant – and handed the object to Brown who looked at it and gave it back to Foley. Foley sort of played with it or shook it and it blew up, causing instant death of Brown and Foley. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division was still investigating when this was published. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/pike/obits/b/brown2252gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 5.8 Kb