Joseph Harrison Brown; Harry Ocean County Daily Times, Summer Festival Edition Friday, August 2, 1974 Joseph Harrison Brown was his given name, but everyone called him Harry. He was born in the country town of Holmeson, Millstone Township. His parents were Charles and Anne Cottrell Brown. Schooling at the Holmeson one room school was a…
Ruth Alders – was in Epworth League with us (I THINK) Eliz Anderston & Lester Ancerson were parents of Betty Anderson (I THINK) Eliz & Lester were divorced and Lester moved across street and lived with his brother Sander (Janes Father) and Wilz married Pat McCallion. Pat at one time was on the Broadway Stage…
Ridge Avenue, Lakewood, NJ In the summer months, on Ridge Avenue, the weather was so hot most of the children slept on the down stairs woolen rug, in the parlor. The parents would sleep in the rocking chairs on the front porch. If we had to go upstairs, at nite, and the windows were open,…
The Great Depression I never knew anything about the Great Depression, one of the banks closed in our town but the people that had money deposited there were given stocks for the full amount, eventually gaining the amount back with interest and increased value. In our store, during these years, Dad issues “script,” to the…
The Grandparents Grandfather Margerum, William Alexander Margerum, lived with us six months, each year. Grandfather, Charles Purcell Brown, moved in with us after Grandmother passed, but we, the children, drove him nuts so he moved over to Uncle Joel’s home. Uncle Joel, Joel Cottrell Brown, lived with us for several years, before he married. He…
The Children While Grandmother, Anna, worked, gt Grandmother, Nancy Francis Brown, cared for the boys, Joel and Harry, little Charlie passed when he was two years of age. Both boys attended the DeBow School, Holmeson, NJ, it was an one room school house, education was suburb. When I read Dad’s history book, it was beyond…
Going to the Country Things were looking up when Dad purchased our new model “T” Ford truck for delivering groceries. As children, we went with Dad to the surrounding farms and houses, selling Stilwell bakery bread that we carried on a rack in the back of the truck, as well as kerosene for stoves and…
School #5 We all went to School #5 and had to cross the TYPINK meadow to get there. We did not take a lunch or were we given a penny or two to buy a large grandfather cup of cocoa, with a floating marshmallow. Some kids bought a peanut butter sandwich, we had to go…
New Beginings In 1917, we moved from our rented house to our new home at 322 Ridge Avenue, Lakewood, NJ. Grandmother Brown told Uncle Joel Brown, Dad’s brother, “if you are not about to marry, you have to live with Harry and help raise his children.” In 1919, Uncle Joel married Sarah Jane (Jennie) Cook,…
TYPINK Bob Smith was dubbed, “The Light House Keeper of -TYPINK.” Bob’s sister Dorothy Smith McCoach was the baby sitter for Harrison and I. 1-2-3 Who are we – we are the kids of TYPINK SEA: Several boys made a hut in the TYPINK woods where they cooked over an open fire, or boiled eggs…
Points One day in late April 1945, General McGaw awarded me the Bronze Star Medal and in late June, the Air Medal. These were informal occasions. The general would have his aide summon me to his headquarters where, as I stood at attention, the general would pin the medal, shake my hand, and say something…
Victory in Europe Heidelberg, Mosbach, Adelsheim, Kunzelsau, and many other cities lay in our forward path. Finally, we stopped at a place which became kind of permanent. I do not remember the name of the place. While we were at this place, the general ordered Major Adams and me to go to Dijon, France, for…
Germany 1945 About the middle of February 1945, after we had succeeded in pushing the Germans back, came a command decision to move forward. We packed and loaded up. We crossed the Saar River and went into Germany for about twenty miles. Someone picked out a big building for headquarters. The building was large enough…
Aerial Missions General McGaw and Hibbs either met or talked together every day. After some of those get-togethers, General McGaw would assign me to destroy the selected targets. On one occasion, the target was a haystack in a field. I felt like I was in the movies, but the haystack was easily destroyed. The general…
France 1945 About the middle of February 1945, we moved our headquarters to Sarreguemines, a French city on the Saar River. North of the Saar (in French, “Sarre”) was Germany. I guess we were about a mile from the river. I slept on the third floor in a building directly over the Headquarters of the…
Duty Calls Leaving Virginia and Johnny in Lafayette, I returned to Camp Van Dorn sometime late in November or early in December. There I spent my time readying for the ‘bon voyage’. During this time, I was promoted to the rank of Captain and put on flight pay. This was quite a boost to our…
63rd Air Strip Every time the general left his office, he had to pass by min. he must have been saying to himself, “I’ve got to get that guy Brown off his can and out in the field with the troops.” So, one day he said to me, “Lt. Brown, I’ve made arrangements for you…
Monologue – by Margaret Theresa Brown Forsberg We waited all day, sitting out of doors for the First Zeppelin, to fly over head. All the folks gathered at Bertha Horowitz’s yard to watch, finally Mother made the announcement that she had to start cooking for supper, we all went into the house, we were waiting,…
1920-1940s – Margaret Brown & Karl Forsberg Karl always wanted to own a business and at one time and place he had a hot dog and bait store on the Forge Pond, South brand of the Metedeconk. He was trying to get control of his life after rejecting his eight-year romance with Gladys. She was…
WWII Documentary of H. M. Brown Activation On Tuesday, June 15, 1943, the 63rd Division was activated (to place a military unit on an active status in an assigned capacity) all we had to do now was to get the men necessary to fill the unmanned positions and procure the equipment to go with it. For…