Robert A. Brown
The Akron Beacon Journal
(Akron, Ohio)
17 Dec 1944, Sun • Main Edition • Page 30
Together they had slogged through France's mud, keeping up eacg other's spirits with a wiserack and a smiile.
Together the had trained in tanks until they were experts. And togeher they found themselves in a "replacement pool" ready to be sent to the front in mid-November.
"Ray's a grand guy." wrote PFC Robert A. Brown to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur C. Brown, over and over again. "Bob's a grand pal, "wrote Ray Becham to his parents Mr. and Mrs. Sam Beacham, who moved recently from 2104 Seventh st., Cuyahoga Falls only a couple of miles from where the Browns lived.
Then on Novermber 26, as if keeping a pact with each other, the two friends died on a French battlefield. They did not fall side by side but their deaths were so close that the two telegrams arrived almost simultaneously.
In a last letter home Nov. 21., Brown said, "I have been assigned to an armored infantry division. All is well. Don't worry about me, Ray is with me."
About the same time in his last letter home, Ray Beacham even more serious wrote, "God bless you all. May we always remember the power of prayer and its need."
He and Brown both went overseas last summer.
Brown's four young sisters have replaced one of the blue stars on the flag in the window with a gold star. The other two stars are for Lieut. Paul Brown, a pilot in the air corps in England, and PFC Joe Brown, serving in Italy. Brown's sisters include Mrs. Helen Wells of Akron, and Joanne, Hazel, Mina and Mary, at home. Brown was a former North high school student and worked at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., before entering service.
Robert A. Brown
Service # 35596839
Private First Class, U.S. Army
9th Infantry Battalion, 6th Armored Division
Entered Service From: Ohio
Date of Death: November 26, 1944
Buried: Plot J Row 21 Grave 14
Lorraine American Cemetery
Awards: Purple Heart