Anybody who spent any time at a Memphis City Schools School Board meeting in the ’90s will recall member Jim Brown, who passed away on March 3rd. He was 92 and will be remembered at a memorial service at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 9th, at Memphis Funeral Home on Poplar.
On the board, James Milroy Brown, Jr., was a meek-as-a-lamb, polite and conscientious member who worked hard and dutifully for two terms. A University of Memphis graduate, he had also served as a teacher and administrator in the city school system over a 25-year period and once wrote an informative Viewpoint in this publication about Board matters.
What I find most memorable about Brown was his prior service in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. He earned a Purple Heart with Gold Star, Korean Service Medal with three Gold Stars, Presidential Unit Citation with two Bronze Stars and Combat Action Ribbon with three Gold Stars.
He was one of the Marines who got trapped in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir on the Yalu River when the Chinese entered that conflict in late 1950. Brown wrote and lectured often on that experience. It was one of the most difficult moments in this country’s military experience, requiring an arduous escape under fire that lasted weeks over many miles of mountain landscape in sub-zero temperature, culminating in an ultimate sea rescue by the Navy.
His conversations about that experience were both enthralling and inspiring. He often appeared in full uniform at remembrance events involving the Corps and presented the colors at the 2012 funeral of fellow ex-Marine Hunter Lane, a former City Councilman and Memphis mayoral candidate.
In the picture accompanying this article, he was officiating at a 2014 ceremony honoring Sgt. Walter Singleton, a Medal of Honor winner, at the Singleton Community Center in Bartlett.
Brown is survived by his wife, Betty Sue Brown; sons Jimmy Brown, Joey Brown, Tommy Nichols, Ed Nichols; grandchildren Jason Brown, Zach Nichols, Rachel Nichols; great grandchildren Jaxon and Kenneth; and siblings Pauline, Philip, Joe, Gale, Rosie, and Betty.
After his memorial service on Thursday, a funeral procession will follow to West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery where he will be laid to rest following military honors from the Marine Corps League.
