Page 30 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2022 - Online Magazine
P. 30
John R. Brown, Jr.
One Tough and
Lucky Marine
by Larry Williams
Hill Army Airfield. In May 1951,
Junior graduated from Salina
High School, where he played
baseball and ran track.
The Korean War was in its second
year. John was working at the
local Western Auto store. “I had
been thinking that I was going to
be drafted at any time. Two guys
I knew had just gotten out of the
Marines, and they told me, ‘You
don’t want to join the Army. If
you want to be tough, you need
to join the Marines.’ So, after I
received my draft notice from the
Army, I went down and signed
up for the Marines on February
4, 1953. After processing in, I
was sent to the Marine Corps
Recruiting Depot in San Diego
for 13 weeks of boot camp. It
was a long, tough 13 weeks.
I was pulling butts (raising
and lowering targets) at the
rifle range at Camp Matthews.
Live rounds were being shot
at the targets, and one round
[ricocheted off the target and]
hit my right eye. It hurt a lot,
and I couldn't see anything. The
sergeant in charge said, ‘You’ll be
ok. You’re a Marine, and you’re
tough.’ I wasn’t so sure about
that. At Camp Pendleton, we
were learning to climb up the
side of a building using a rope
with a grappling hook. I made it
t didn’t take long for John John was born in 1933 in White up ok, but coming down, I had
R. Brown, Jr. to find out just Cloud, Kansas, which sits on the slack in the line and fell to the
Ihow tough the Marine Corps Missouri River in the Northeast ground from about 15’ up. The
was and how lucky a person had corner of Kansas. John Sr. moved grappling hook fell right beside
to be just to survive the training the young family to Salina, my head. If it would have fallen
required to be called a Marine. Kansas, where he worked on the much closer, I wouldn’t be here
boilers at the hospital at Smokey telling you this story!” Lucky.
30 Lubbock Senior Link
