Biography of Robert William Brown, Sr - Chapter Three

In 1950 Bill Brown (Dad) was in the Army during the Korean War. At first he was regular army, however as time went by that changed. Through the years Dad has mentioned some of his experiences:

• Once when Dad and Mom and all of us (Doug, Bob, Eric, and Sharon) were eating a fine meal on a trip, Dad mentioned the first time he ordered a steak at a restaurant was while in the Service . He recalled that when the steak arrived he thought it was for everyone at the table. Obviously, growing up his family shared a single serving amongst everyone. Just one more indicator how life was a bit different and how much more prosperous Dad has made life for us.
  
• With other Service Men Dad was able to go swimming in the Gulf off the Florida coast during leave time. Several of them swam and floated far out into the clear blue salt water when they noticed a row boat approaching them from the shore. In the boat a Life Guard from the beach stopped rowing, looked down at the phased soldiers and informed them that this was shark infested waters and then he proceeded to row back to the shore. I guess they experienced a 1950's version of immediate "shock and awe." Back to the Beach they swam.
  
• Dad's son Bob once recounted that Dad had mentioned to him in passing while they were in a hospital waiting room that a police officer had once approached Dad and a group of soldiers. He curiously asked them if they had been luring sharks with meat hooks. When the officer realized that the soldiers were puzzled. He explained, someone had been taking baited meat hooks far out into the Gulf with a rope attached and then tying the other end to a truck bumper. Upon hooking a shark, the boat would signal to the truck driver who proceeded to drag the shark from the water, across the beach and through the town until they reached a grocery store parking lot. What a site that must have been for local customers.
• The Army was having the soldiers run races. The winner from each group was permitted to sit on a little hill and watch the other soldiers race. Dad being fast was one of the soldiers who got to relax and enjoy the privilege each winner was afforded. That is until they were told that they were going to be trained to carry explosives to bunkers. Such soldiers had a life expectancy of 1 minute.
 
• One evening when Dad and his fellow soldiers spent an evening partaking of adult beverages perhaps more and longer than they should have, especially given that they had to be up at 5 am for their morning run. One fellow soldier became inebriated. Dad said that going through boot camp, extensive training, the discipline, and the hard earned accomplishments tended to bond each man together. That being the case the group of soldiers took turns running their friend, through puke and unconsciousness, until he became sober enough to be able to wake up a few hours later, ready to run another five miles and an hour of PT (Physical Training) all of course before breakfast. Now that's a night on the town.
• Dad's two oldest son's when they were younger asked him about the military footlocker he kept in the basement. The two boys were able to open it earlier in the day and found it full of military items including his Helmet and Insert helmet. They did not know that a military helmet contained two parts. When Dad returned home from work they were each wearing a part of the helmet and asked all about the military stuff in his footlocker. Curiously they asked if everyone was able to take home their footlockers. Dad explained that he was able to keep the items because he knew the Supply Sargent and the Sargent was he.

After surviving Boot Camp Dad said he took advantage of the various classes that the military offered. To him it was too good a deal to pass up. Get educated, learn something new, no charge, no brainer. Well he must not have learned too much... for he decided to become a paratrooper. Not an easy task. If you have ever read "Band of Brothers" the book outlines the extensive training that  Airborne soldiers still took during the Korean War.  Most soldiers who tried out didn't make it. He made it though. He was a proud member of the 82nd Airborne and later the 101st. The following are some of the stories he told us about being a paratrooper.

• We asked him if he was scared the first time he jumped. His answer, "Nope, but the second time ...."
• Many of the jumps involved hundreds of troopers from multiple aircrafts all jumping at the same time. The sky would be full of those white umbrella chutes with dangling soldiers. On one such occasion Dad's parachute floated over top of another troopers such that Dad's feet landed on top of a trooper's chute below him. He had to immediately run off the side before the chute would collapse under him. His from no air and the other from his weight.  On the ground Dad called out to his fellow paratrooper telling him to check his chute cause it has his foot prints on it.
• Dad flew 27 flights while in the paratroopers. It wasn't until his 28 flight when he was a civilian in the 1960's that Dad actually landed in an airplane.