Brown, John Columbus

BROWN - CHAMPION

Colonel John Columbus Brown, son of Eli Brown and Maude Estelle Walker,was born December 8, 1921 in Carroll County, TN. He descends through hismother from two early Benton County Families, the Walkers and theTownsends.

Graduating in May, 1940 from the Hollow Rock-Bruceton Central HighSchool, Colonel Brown entered the Army Air Corps pilot training in 1942.He received his pilot’s wings and 2nd Lieutenant’s commission at TurnerField, Albany, GA. He was then assigned to the 388th Bomb Group as aB-17 bomber pilot. After completing training, he was transferred toEngland. On July 26, 1943, while on a bombing mission over Hannover,Germany, his aircraft was shot down. After seeing that his crew hadescaped the disabled and burning aircraft, he parachuted and wasimmediately made a prisoner-of-war. He was confined to three differentPOW camps until the last of May, 1945, when General Patton’s 3rd Armyliberated the camp.

Colonel Brown returned to the Unites States and was married to the formerEmma Catheryn Champion, daughter of William Robert Champion and EffieEtta Thompson. A graduate of Camden Central High School, she attendedthe University of Tennessee at the Martin and Knoxville campuses. Shewas a member of Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority. She, too, descends from severalearly Benton County families through her mother, as her father was anative of Shelby County, Alabama.

John received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical and AerospaceEngineering from Auburn University June 3, 1949. He did graduate work inAerospace Operations at the Air University and Low TemperatureEngineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The major portionof his career was in Military Research and Development. His lastassignment was as the Chief of Test and Development on the world’slargest cargo aircraft, the C-5A. John was retired from the UnitedStates Air Force October 1, 1967 after twenty-sex years of service.

The Browns returned to Benton County, established residences in Camdenand on the Beaverdam Embayment of Kentucky Lake near Eva. After servinghis country, Colonel Brown then began serving his community. Serving asforeman of the Benton County Grand Jury for fifteen years as of June1987, chairman of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program Advisory Council,Legislative Liaison for the West Tennessee Council of the RSVP, advisorfor the electricity and electronics trade crafts in the Benton CountyVocational School, and Chairman of the American Red Cross Services toMilitary Families almost from the day of retirement. HE is a MasterMason, 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a Shriner.

Colonel Brown is an active amateur radio operator, holding the highestclass license, Amateur Extra Class, with the call of NO4Q. In December1987, he will have served as the Tennessee Section Manager, AmericanRadio Relay League for seven years. In that capacity he was thespokesman for approximately eight thousand amateur radio operators in theState of Tennessee. He was elected the “Tennessee Amateur Radio Operatorof the Year for 1986" and Catheryn was named the “XYL of 1986,” XYL beingan amateur radio term for wife of an amateur operator.

Bothe of the Browns are avid genealogists and have transcribed andpublished the Benton County censuses of 1850, 1860, and 1880. They alsotranscribed the Carroll County 1850, 1860, and 1870 censuses. All butthe latter were presented to the Carroll County Historical Society forpublication, Mrs. Brown co-authored with Johnathan Kennon Thompson Smithtwo books on the Thompson families of Benton and Dickson Counties.

The Browns were appointed by the Benton County Commissioners to serve onthe Tennessee Homecoming ‘86 Steering Committee, with Colonel Brown asVice-Chairman. John and Catheryn were appointed as Co-Chairpersons ofthe Benton County Sesquicentennial Committee.

Source: Families and Histories, Benton County, Tennessee, Volume 2, 1992,Benton County Genealogical Society.