But a contingent from Hamilton says that honor is not high enough. With the help of Rep. Warren Davidson, they are pushing to get the Hamiltonian awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration for a member of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Hamilton is steeped in a history of its citizens serving in the military. In recent years, it has gone all in honoring them. In 2019, the city inducted its first class into the Hamilton Veterans Hall of Fame, and in May, they installed more than 120 banners mounted onto poles around the city as part of its Hometown Heroes program.
Brown, whose Hometown Heroes banner is on the High-Main Bridge with others killed in action, was awarded for his actions on July 22, 1970, the U.S. Army’s Distinguished Service Cross, which is awarded for a “display of extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force.”
In order for the award to happen, it quite literally takes an act of Congress as a nomination must be made by a member of Congress. There have been more than 3,500 Medal of Honor medals awarded across all military branches (more than 250 are from Ohio), with 618 having been awarded posthumously. Of the medals awarded, 267 have been awarded for actions in Vietnam.
Mayor Pat Moeller and others want to add one more to the list of American heroes.
Moeller has talked about Brown and his actions often since learning about his story from retired Brigadier Gen. Lawrence Gillespie, a Hamilton native now living in Virginia.
“This is a hero that Hamiltonians should be reading about, and students should be learning about,” said the mayor. “His story is just not known.”
Brown was a platoon sergeant for B Company in the 4th Battalion (Mechanized), 23rd Infantry, 25th Infantry Division while serving in Vietnam. On March 15, 1969, his company came under heavy enemy fire. The enemy was hidden. His company began taking on casualties as the well-concealed enemy fired at them.
Regardless of the danger, Brown charged into the fray to rescue a wounded soldier. Then he did it again. And again.
That third time, however, he sustained severe wounds. Still, he was determined to get his brother-in-arms to safety. Then an enemy grenade was thrown and landed near Brown and the others he just saved. Brown shielded the wounded soldier he just saved, and others, from the grenade and was killed in action.
Brown did not hesitate. He just acted.
“That is worthy of the Medal of Honor, in my mind,” Moeller said of the actions. “That is the definition of valor.”
The nomination is the first step. Once it is before Congress, the members will consider if it meets the standardized requirements established in 1963. The recipient must have “distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”
“Anytime somebody throws themselves on a grenade, that’s the ultimate sacrifice as far as I’m concern,” said Gilliespe, who knew Brown while growing up in Hamilton. “To make that kind of sacrifice, he certainly deserves the Medal of Honor.”
He’s not wrong.
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