Fred Brown died a hero in Vietnam. The city he grew up in is hoping he will one day receive the recognition he deserves.
The Beginning of the Process
The initiative to honor Brown, a U.S. Army staff sergeant killed in action, began more than two years ago in Hamilton, Ohio. Brown, amid a chaotic firefight, rescued three injured soldiers and then flung his body onto a live grenade to spare the lives of more comrades.
Hamilton Mayor Pat Moeller marvels at Brown’s heroism. “The more you read about him, the more you realize what this man did, and he deserves even more honors than that,” Moeller told the Hamilton (Ohio) Journal News.
Moeller and city officials feel strongly that Brown deserves the military’s highest award – the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Brown did posthumously receive the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second most prestigious medal for valor.
Whether or not Brown receives the military’s highest award, Hamilton will continue to honor him. On Nov. 8, Hamilton plans to unveil a flagpole at Bailey Square to commemorate its fallen son.
In 2019, the city inducted its first class into the Hamilton Veterans Hall of Fame. In 2023, as part of its Hometown Heroes project, Hamilton raised 120 banners sitting on top of poles and dispersed them throughout the city. The list grew, and this year, over 600 veterans are featured on the banners, which will be displayed through Veterans Day.
Hamilton’s High-Main Bridge honors the city’s veterans killed in action, including Brown.
A Moment of Valor
After being sent to Vietnam, Brown became a platoon sergeant for B Company, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. On March 15, 1969, Brown’s platoon was pinned down in the center of a concealed area, facing heavy attack from North Vietnamese fighters. To make matters worse, the enemy was hidden, making it harder for Brown’s unit to mount a counterattack. Casualties piled up.
Accessing the situation, Brown quickly realized that artillery and helicopter gunships couldn’t properly reach the area until the wounded were evacuated to a safer place. Brown raced back into the onslaught, rescuing another soldier. Despite being wounded, the sergeant ran back a third time into intense fire, rescuing another soldier.
But then the enemy fired a grenade close to Brown and the men he had just carried to safety. Hardly thinking twice, Brown jumped on the grenade, protecting his wounded comrades.
According to the Hall of Valor website, which documents medal recipients, “Sergeant Brown’s extraordinary courage and selfless concern for the welfare of his comrades were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.”
About a year after he was killed in battle, Brown received the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross, given to the veteran for a “display of extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force.”
According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, 3,528 soldiers have been awarded the military’s highest honor, including 61 living recipients, as of Nov. 7. This includes 255 Ohio natives. Among the medal tally, 270 Vietnam veterans have been honored.
Hamilton still waits for Brown’s name to be called.
“That is worthy of the Medal of Honor, in my mind,” Moeller told the Journal-News in 2023. “That is the definition of valor.”
Working with Congress
Hamilton officials have been working with Congress for the past two years to get Brown nominated. Once a nomination is filed, members of Congress must consider if the veteran meets a series of requirements passed in 1963. Medal of Honor recipients must have “distinguished himself (or herself) conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.”
But, with the government shutdown still creeping along with no end in sight, Hamilton might have to wait a while to learn of Brown’s fate.
Brown’s story was largely unknown until Lawrence Gillespie, a retired brigadier general and Hamilton native, told Moeller about him a few years ago. Gillespie grew up with Brown.
“Anytime somebody throws themselves on a grenade, that’s the ultimate sacrifice as far as I’m concerned,” Gillespie said. “To make that kind of sacrifice, he certainly deserves the Medal of Honor.”
