Search for Cecil County’s first hometown hero killed in the Korean War in your internet Browser and the results will present you with Capt. William H Eder, Jr., a resident of Elkton who lost his life in combat on September 22, 1950, while serving with Company G, 24th Infantry, 25th Division, U.S. Army during the Pusan Perimeter campaign. A tragic loss for the U.S. and the young wife he left back home, but Capt. Eder was not the first Cecil County soldier to lose his life in the Korean War.
Pvt. Earl Junior Brown was born 8 Oct 1931 to Homer and Mattie (Dowell) Brown in Goodson, Washington, VA. The family relocated to Rising Sun in Cecil County, MD about 1942. Earl enlisted in the U.S. Army on 12 Jan 1949 and upon completion of Boot Camp, assigned to Co. I, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. The 38th Regiment would deploy to Korea in July 1950 and arrive with the 2nd Infantry Division as the first direct reinforcements from the U.S. in the Pusan Perimeter.
Pusan Perimeter, South Korea
On 10 Sep 1950, the 38th Regiment was engaged in the desperate defense of the Pusan Perimeter along the Naktong River line, in an area known as the “Naktong Bulge,” a critical horseshoe shaped bend in the Naktong River near Yongsan. It was during this intense fighting that Pvt. Earl Junior Brown would pay the ultimate sacrifice and earn the unfortunate, but heroic distinction as the first Cecil County resident to lose his life in the Korean War. As a result of the heroic actions of the 38th Infantry that September with their incredible bravery and determination to hold the line during the intense fighting at the Naktong Bulge, the unit would earn the sobriquet, “The Rock of the Naktong.” Pvt. Earl Junior Brown of Cecil County, MD was an integral part of that successful stand.
Pvt Earl Junior Brown is interred in Conowingo Baptist Church Cemetery in Conowingo, Cecil County, Maryland with his parents and other family members.
