Legendary WWII Paratrooper SSG Russell Brown Passes

One of the last legendary WWII soldiers to make four combat jumps into Europe has died. Former Staff Sgt. Russell Brown was one of the legendary paratroopers who made every combat jump during World War II, forever cementing his place in the history of the 82nd Airborne Division. Photo at right is British Infantry soldiers of the 6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry talking to an American Paratrooper from the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR in Avola, Sicily in July 1943.

Brown passed away Aug. 31 at the age of 96 in Georgetown, Kentucky, according to an obituary. A spokesman for the 82nd Airborne confirmed the Purple Heart recipient had been one of the lauded soldiers who parachuted into Salerno and Sicily, Italy, as well as Normandy, France, and Njimegen, Holland.

His story was featured in “Four Stars of Valor: The Combat History of the 505th Parachute Infantry” and “All American, All the Way: The Combat History of the 82nd Airborne Division,” non-fiction accounts by Phil Nordyke, where he told the story of his time as a mortar squad leader with Brown, who had been a mortar squad leader with F Company.

After the Army, Brown went to work as an explosives technician at DuPont and Co. He is survived by two daughters, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, according to his obituary. Brown was one of about a dozen soldiers still alive who had made all four jumps. Retired 1st. Sgt. Harold Eatman died in July at the age of 102.

Article from Army Times