Captain Brown was a veteran of World War II. In Korea, he was a member of the 47th TAAM Company, 79th Ordinance Battalion. On 3 January 1953, he piloting a helicopter near Changwan-ni, South Korea, when it struck a power line, crashed and burned.

Brown was awarded the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.