Charles R. Brown was born in March 1925 in Port Townsend, Washington as an only child. His parents split when he was young, leaving his mother, aunt, and grandparents to raise him. Brown was familiar with the army because his father was in World War 1 and there was Fort Worden [Annotator's Note: now Fort Worden Historical State Park, in Port Townsend, Washington] nearby that his grandfather was associated with. The Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States] affected many, but Port Townsend was a small, safe town where neighbors knew each other well, and people and children helped each other. Brown's family did not have money, but he never went hungry. He would go to the beaches and get clams. He would also purchase salmon for 20 cents. During his time in school, he worked as a school janitor, then in a milk creamery. He began making money and really enjoyed what he was doing. He was not anxious to join the army when war broke out because he liked what he was doing at the time. He knew several of his friends dropped out of school to join the service. Brown was delivering milk on a Sunday morning when an army soldier came running down the street telling everyone that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Brown as unaware of the location of Pearl Harbor. He attended a school assembly the next day, listening to FDR's [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] famous speech [Annotator's Note: Day of Infamy Speech; President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a Joint Session of the United States Congress, 8 December 1941]. There was an immediate blackout in Townsend, with guards everywhere. Within weeks there was signs of where people were allowed to go. More restriction on the public came as weeks went by. He was drafted after he completed high school in 1943. He and a few other friends reported to Fort Lewis [Annotator's Note: Joint Base Lewis–McChord south-southwest of Tacoma, Washington] for indoctrination. Four days later, he was sent to Fort Knox in Kentucky for boot camp by train. He stopped in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] and was able to see skyscrapers that he never saw before. After he completed boot camp, on Christmas Day 1943 [Annotator's Note: 25 December 1943], he was sent to Camp Barkeley in Abilene, Texas for what he thought for light tank training. However, when he arrived, he soon realized that he was placed in the 66th Armored Infantry Battalion and would not be driving a tank. Later, he is glad that he was not in the light tank division.

During World War 2, Charles R. Brown was placed in the Headquarters Company, 66th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division. Their job was to support the infantry regiments. He used mortars sometimes, but mostly used his rifle. After military training, he received orders to go to Europe. He could not wait to leave Camp Barkeley [Annotator's Note: in Abilene, Texas] because the weather conditions were hot. They lived in 12-man huts made of plywood. There was not grass or trees for shade. The training he received was for desert training and not for the cold conditions of Europe. One day, his unit was loaded up on a troop train and headed to Camp Shanks [Annotator's Note: in Orangeburg, New York]. It took five days to get there. Many of the troops were homesick during their voyage. When Brown reached New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York], he was given liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to see the city. He and his friend, Chris [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling], went into town and had a nice dinner. Chris, being from Connecticut, tried to go home to visit his family before being shipped off, but could not find a way. Brown and his unit loaded on the RMS Empress of Australia at night. Passage took about 12 days, and the food was lousy. His unit disembarked at Liverpool [Annotator's Note: Liverpool, England], and loaded on a train in the evening. After a few days, he disembarked at Tidworth [Annotator's Note: Tidworth, England] and stayed there for a month while they waited for equipment to arrive. Then his unit took a train to Southampton [Annotator's Note: Southampton, England] where they loaded on an LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] and crossed the English Channel to Le Havre [Annotator's Note: Le Havre, France]. His platoon sergeant, Hal Bates [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling], got into it with a sailor who was reading a magazine and telling the troops what their life expectancy would be. Brown disembarked at Le Havre and then loaded into a truck and went to a muddy field for the night. The next day they took off for the front with the division. They were greeted by French civilians and offered Calvados [Annotator's Note: apple or pear brandy from Normandy, France] as they passed through the towns. Soon Brown began to see carnage everywhere as his unit neared the combat zone. There were dead horses, blown up equipment, and dead bodies scattered everywhere.

After arriving in Europe, Charles R. Brown [Annotator's Note: with Headquarters Company, 66th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division] headed for the front lines. One of his first duties was to bring dog tags to an aid station that had been collected from dead bodies. Brown found one dead body of a man he did basic training with. This shocked him to the core. He went through light combat until Christmas Day 1944 [Annotator's Note: 25 December 1944]. His unit was given a Christmas Day dinner that was delicious. It was cold and the only way to get warm was to sit with another guy in a foxhole. His division took part in the Battle at Herrlisheim [Annotator's Note: Herrlisheim, France] in January 1945. The battle lasted about five days and Brown's unit had heavy losses. It took a while for his unit to recover from battle. Brown helped with the mortar shells and every time one was shot, it lit up the sky. In retaliation, the Germans blew up a half track and shot mortar shells. One of the shells land three inches from Brown's foot. It was a dud. Everyone was given the word to retreat. Brown's squad did not get the message and continued fighting longer than they needed to. Brown and squad were under serious fire and finally made it back to the rest of his unit. His unit took a stand during the night and waiting for the Germans to attack. Luckily, they did not, and in the wee hours in the morning his unit was relieved by the 36th Division [Annotator's Note: 36th Infantry Division]. Days later, his unit received replacements but many of them had a difficult journey to the front line. Some of them were cold and wet. Brown offered one of the replacements with a pair of socks. He and this replacement formed a friendship and stayed together throughout the rest of the war. Brown learned that his friend was previously in prison, but the United States offered him a pardon if he enlisted in the infantry. Brown remained friends with him until he died years later. When Brown went into combat, he was often scared, cold, and extremely tired due to lack of sleep.

Charles R. Brown [Annotator's Note: with Headquarters Company, 66th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division] moved through Europe rapidly. His unit was temporarily assigned to Patton's [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] Third Army and the French First Army. All the French troops that he met were from Morocco [Annotator's Note: Morocco, Africa]. The French soldiers had American uniforms with a red turban. They also had a hodgepodge of equipment from the French, the Americans, and the Germans and carried a long-curved knife. He met one soldier that had a collection of ears. After Brown and his unit took a town [Annotator's Note: Colmar, France], he was standing guard when one of the French soldiers appeared and scared him. Brown thought for sure this soldier was going to cut his ears off, but he just wanted to talk to him. While they were in town, Brown contracted an illness and became very sick. One of the women in town gave him a concoction of schnapps [Annotator's Note: type of alcoholic beverage] and honey to drink. The next morning, he felt better and free of any problems. His company was joined with a Black company. All these men volunteered for combat. They were some of the best troops that they had even though they were not given adequate amount of equipment. The Germans were shelling, and Brown and his friend were stuck in a foxhole. They waited for a round of fire to pound on to them. It never came because one of the Black soldiers found and captured the German observer. Brown and his unit crossed the Rhine River at Worms [Annotator's Note: Worms, Germany]. They quickly moved from town to town, taking a bridge at Dillingen [Annotator's Note: Dillingen, Germany] after they crossed the Danube River. He was given orders to oversee some Czechoslovakian prisoners. His friend bartered with some locals for cognac [Annotator's Note: type of alcoholic beverage] which made him very popular among the troops for a short bit. They moved into Austria taking prisoners. The Germans were willing to surrender near the end of the war. However, as his unit was driving down a road, a sniper shot one of his sergeants in the neck. The day the Germans surrendered to the Allies, Brown saw many planes in the sky. To celebrate the war's end, Brown and his friend drank some schnapps. A fellow soldier came up to them and asked for a ride in the half-track [Annotator's Note: M3 half-track; a vehicle with front wheels and rear tracks]. Brown, his friend, and the soldier got into the half-track and Brown began to drive. Not long after, he ran it into wooden wagon.

About two weeks after war in Europe ended, Charles R. Brown [Annotator's Note: with Headquarters Company, 66th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division] received orders to go back to the United States in order to prepare for the invasion of Japan. He waited for a ship at Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France]. It took eight days to back to the United States. The food on the ship was delicious. They played a lot of games. After disembarking from the ship, he reported to Camp Kilmer [Annotator's Note: in Central New Jersey]. He received a new uniform and a steak dinner. Then boarded train for Fort Lewis [Annotator's Note: Fort Lewis, Washington]. Not long after the train began its journey across the country that he learned the war with Japan ended. The train stopped in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] and Brown celebrated war's end. The train took him to Fort Lewis and two hours after disembarking, Brown made his way to Seattle [Annotator's Note: Seattle, Washington]. He caught a ferry to his hometown of Port Townsend [Annotator's Note: Port Townsend, Washington] because he received a 30-day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He was sent to Camp Gruber [Annotator's Note: near Braggs, Oklahoma] to wait for his discharge. While he was waiting, he was given light duty and mostly went to town. He was discharged from service on 23 December 1945. He boarded a train and met a soldier, named Bernie Goldstein [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] from Cheyenne, Wyoming. When the train stopped in Cheyenne, Goldstein asked Brown to come to dinner at his family's house, which he accepted. Brown was so grateful for the family welcoming him and it always stuck with him. Brown found a job shortly after returning home, working in a shipyard with demobilized shipping. He attended school on his G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] and began working for the forest service. He met and married his wife. They moved to Seattle and Brown retired after 25 years working with a timber company.

After World War 2, Charles R. Brown had a hard time adjusting to civilian life and opening about his combat experiences. He was angry for a while and had recurring nightmares. He sees his service as one of the most wonderful things that happened to him. He met so many people that he would not have otherwise if he did not join the service. He also came out with a sense of guilt because he was not a POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] and he was not injured. He enjoys talking to fellow veterans today. His most memorable experience of World War 2, bedsides being discharged, was when he returned home through New York Harbor [Annotator's Note: in New York, New York] and saw the Statue the Liberty. His scariest moment was during the Battle at Herrlisheim [Annotator's Note: Herrlisheim, France in January 1945 with Headquarters Company, 66th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division]. Most Americans do not think about the importance of World War 2. His daughter is active in preserving World War 2 history, but his son is bored of the subject. Brown is anti-war today but admires the soldiers who fought for their country. He wants our future generations to do whatever they can to stop war. World War 2 changed him dramatically and opened to his eyes to discrimination towards Blacks.