Rock County, WisconsinBiographies"Edwin Fay Brown" |
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EDWIN FAY BROWN Sgt. Edwin Brown had joined the U.S. Army and was sent to Vietnam in July 1967. He was assigned to D Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry as part of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade (Americal). By New Years Day of 1968, Sgt. Brown had turned 22 years old and was a seasoned leader in the rough jungle terrain. Based out of Chu Lai, Vietnam, 3/21 was performing daily search and destroy missions in a thick hilly area just south of Danang, the major port in the northern part of South Vietnam. The first week of 1968 proved to be the worst the Unit had seen. Two Companies of 3/21 had encountered an extremely large and prepared NVA force, and had spent days battling the enemy and sustained some heavy casualties. On January 8, 1968, D and A Companies were ordered to move down into Hiep Duc (Happy) Valley to support the other troops and push back the enemy. Once they moved into place another battle erupted that was unlike anything they had ever seen. By the end of the day on the 9th, these two Companies had 16 killed, 50 wounded, and 4 soldiers had been captured as POW's. It had become so fierce that many of the killed and wounded had injuries from hand-to-hand combat incidents. The fighting continued on through the night. On the morning of January 10th, another large attack by the NVA ensued. 3/21 lost another 17 soldiers this day, including Sgt Edwin Brown. Over 60 men were wounded, and another 6 soldiers were captured bringing the POW count to 10. More air and artillery support was called in and the Infantrymen finally succeeded in pushing the enemy back and secured the Valley. One of the soldiers killed that day was the D Company Commander, Capt Steven Belcher. He was immediately replaced by Capt. James Humphries. In 1999, Humphries published a book that details this battle in Through the Valley, Vietnam. Four of the POW's died while in captivity, and 4 were released in 1973. 2 were still considered missing and their ultimate fate is unknown. The POW's were sent to a prison camp in Quang Nam Province and were put together with other POW's from other areas. Their life while in captivity is detailed in the book Survivors, by Zalin Grant. Edwin Brown's name is on the Vietnam Wall at Panel 34E, line 15.  |
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