Willard R. Brown

Willard R. (Bud) Brown entered eternal rest on Wednesday, May 14th, at the Hanson Hospice Center in Stevensville.  Willard was born May 16, 1926, in Red Bank, Tennessee, the fourth child of Thomas L. and Sarah E. (Bradley) Brown. Willard grew up in the Rossville/Ft. Ogelthorpe, Georgia area.  At fifteen, he followed his older brothers, John and Vic to Baltimore, Maryland where he worked building Liberty ships until he joined the Merchant Marines, in 1944.  Willard served aboard the SS Augustine Heard and was awarded the Merchant Marine Emblem, Atlantic War Zone Bar, Pacific War Zone Bar and the Mediterranean-Middle Eastern War Zone Bar.  After the war, Willard returned to Baltimore, where he met and married his loving and devoted wife of sixty-one years, Charlotte M. Ahl.   Bud and Charlotte lived in Baltimore until their retirement.  They loved going to Florida and traveling in general.   They made homes in Rehoboth and Harrington, Delaware and Manchester, Tennessee.  Willard relocated to Michigan following the death of his wife in 2012. Willard answered the call of his nation once again in 1950 during the Korean conflict, serving his country in the US Army.   He retired from the Army in 1986, with the rank of Chief Warrant Officer with thirty six years of service. Willard was a member of the L/S John Brown Chapter of the American Merchant Marine Veterans, serving as President from 1992 through 2003.  He was also a Life Member of the American Legion. Willard is survived by a daughter, Karen Davis, of Brooklyn, Maryland, two granddaughters, a great-granddaughter, his sister, Joyce Galbreath of Nashville, Tennnessee, several nieces and nephews  (greats & great-greats), and a few cousins “down home” in the Rossville, Georgia area. Willard was preceded in death by a sister Nona Elizabeth, his parents  Tom & Sally Brown, brothers John, Marion (Vic), Samuel (Pete) Brown, sister Laura Ellen (Brown) Lippert, grandson Kyle Davis, daughter Janis (Brown) Kuska, and wife Charlotte. Bud and Charlotte will be remembered in a memorial service at Cloud Springs Baptist Church in Rossville, Georgia , of which Mr. Brown’s great –grandparents were founding members.  Interment will follow, in the Tennessee National  Military Cemetery in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Those wishing to share a memory of Willard online may do so at www.heritage-chapel.com