Robert G. Brown Jr.

Major Brown was born on July 18, 1923 in Chattanooga, TN. He was the oldest of 3 children of the late Robert Glenn Brown and Ann Smith Brown of Chattanooga. He was preceded in death by two sisters: Doris Brown Payne and Sarah Brown Ingle of Chattanooga; and by his wife, LaWanna Stovall of Cape Girardeau, MO. He is survived by 3 children and their families: Daughter- Marlys Brown Williams of Dallas, GA, granddaughter Shannon Williams Deveau (husband Mark) of Woodstock, GA, granddaughter Natalie Williams Robinson (husband Jeff) of Charlotte, NC; Daughter- Anita Brown Patterson (husband Bill) of Marietta, GA, granddaughter Nicole Arlene Gossett of Dunlap, TN; Son¬- Robert Glenn Brown, III (wife Anne) of Marietta, GA, granddaughter Miriam Brown Spiers (husband John) of Cincinnati, OH, grandson Robert Gage Brown of Marietta, GA, grandson Logan Young Brown of Chapel Hill, NC. Major Brown is also survived by 5 great-grandchildren.

Major Brown graduated from Chattanooga Central HS in 1941, where he ran the half mile on the track team and was an ROTC cadet. He then worked for Combustion Engineering Co. until enlisting in the Army Air Corps in August 1942. He attended basic training at Lackland AB, TX, and primary flight school in Vichy, MO, where he met his future wife, LaWanna, the base commander’s secretary. Next he graduated from the Air Forces Technical Radio School, Sioux Falls, SD; gunnery school at Yuma, AZ; crew flight training for B-17 and B-24, Tampa, FL; and radar school at Langley Field, VA. He married LaWanna in Tampa, and his pilot, Lt. Floyd Peede, was his best man. In October 1944 he was assigned to the 8th Air Force, 3rd Division, 34th Bomber Group based in Mendelsham, England. He was the radio operator and a waist gunner on the B-17 called “Heavenly Body.” Over Berlin on 2-26-45, flying chaff element on his 28th mission, his crippled B-17 couldn’t make it home, and limped to Lodz, Poland to land at a Russian fighter base that had just been recaptured from the Germans. Listed as MIA for over a month, his crew travelled by truck, boxcar and C-47 en route from Lodz to Warsaw, Kiev, Poltava (Ukraine), Tehran, Jerusalem, Cairo, Tripoli, Italy, France and then back to England.

He flew a total of 32 missions and returned home as a Tech Sergeant after VE Day. His decorations included four bronze stars, air medal with four oak leaf clusters, ETO ribbon with 2 battle stars, and the good conduct medal. In 1946 he moved to Marietta, GA, enrolled at Georgia Tech under the GI Bill, and started work at the GT Research Station. He joined the Air Corps Reserves at Dobbins Air Base and in 1947 was commissioned as an officer after OCS. He returned to active duty for the 1948 Berlin Airlift, and again for 3 years during the Korean War, serving stateside and at Ramey Base in Puerto Rico. In 1953 he was hired by Lockheed Georgia to work in manufacturing research and returned to college at Georgia State, earning a BBA in 1957. His last active duty tour was for the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. He retired from the Air Force Reserves as a major and retired from Lockheed in 1990.

At Dobbins AFB, Bob Brown was also active in the Civil Air Patrol, where he managed the motor pool and materiel, and was awarded the rank of Lt. Colonel. He was a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Kennesaw Shrine Club. Bob collected and restored antique cars and furniture and was a tool aficionado. He built a summer cabin by hand on Lake Allatoona, which his family enjoyed for decades.

Bob also loved genealogy research, clocks, marksmanship, trains, travel, poker, and dogs.

He will long be remembered as the loving pillar of his family, an unstintingly supportive friend, dependable as gravity, patient, patriotic, good natured, and a sterling example of the Great Generation.

Graveside service will be held at Chattanooga Memorial Park at 1:00 on Dec. 22nd. Arrangements by Chattanooga Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to:

Wounded Warrior Project, PO Box 75817, Topeka, KS 66675. (855) 448-3997;

Or to: American Kidney Fund, 11921 Rockville Pike, Suite 300, Rockville, MD 28052

Or to: The American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 11454, Alexandria, VA 22312