Benton’s Own Bill Brown
By Cody Berry
Another one of the Saline County veterans featured in our new exhibit is Benton’s own Bill Brown. This is his story. Charles William “Bill” Brown was born in Benton on December 29, 1920, to Charles E. and Sammy Ashby Brown. Brown graduated from Benton High School in 1938 and joined the U.S. Army in 1942. Brown was sent to the South Pacific, where he served in the 619th Air Material Squadron. Brown worked hard to supply 33 fighters and bombers with ammunition. After serving at Pearl Harbor, the Christmas Islands, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, and the Okinawa Islands, Brown was discharged at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas on October 29, 1945. Brown received the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon, three Bronze Stars, and the Good Conduct Medal. After that, Brown worked for Frank Tracy Oldsmobile and retired in 1983.1
While I don’t have Mr. Brown’s uniform or his medals on display, I do have a newspaper article about his service and some photographs of him. Brown married his first wife LaVerne Kinusbury on March 15, 1946. They eventually had two sons: Robert and Charles Glen Brown, and a daughter named Jean.2 At the time of his death on March 18, 2008, Brown was married to his second wife, Mildred Morehead Brown, with whom he had three stepchildren. Brown was buried at New Rosemont Cemetery in Benton.3
Citations:
1 Arnold Wright, My Country Called, 1993, p. 32
2 Arnold Wright, My Country Called, 1993, p. 32, Ashby Funeral Home, Inc., “Bill Brown,” https://www.ashbyfuneralhome.com/obituaries/print?o_id=205263, Date Accessed 9/17/2025.
3 Ashby Funeral Home, Inc., “Bill Brown,” https://www.ashbyfuneralhome.com/obituaries/print?o_id=205263, Date Accessed 9/17/2025.