WELCOME TO WEST VIRGINIA BRIDGE RIDE: THE 65 ARE HOME.
SSG Jeremy A Brown
26, US Army
July 3 marks the anniversary of the passing of SSG Jeremy A Brown ,26, US Army. We honor and remember him and his mother Teresa Brown both of Mabscott WV.
SSG Brown born Nov 10, 1978, was assigned to the 66th Military Intelligence Company, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colo. He died July 3, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq, of injuries sustained earlier that day when the Humvee in which he was riding accidentally rolled over in Tal Afar, Iraq. while manning the gunner’s position. At least 57 soldiers from his post in Colorado Springs, Colo., have died in Iraq. Another 68 soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, have died there as well.
Teresa Brown said that her son was riding in the gunner’s position on the Humvee and was killed instantly when it rolled on top of him and crushed him. “We don’t know how it flipped,” Teresa Brown said. “Everyone says that a staff sergeant isn’t supposed to be a gunner, but Jeremy would have taken over any job and done it if his men were sick or injured.” Brown was in a convoy on a night mission in Iraq when an Iraqi car fishtailed and swerved toward the convoy. Suspecting a car bomb, the platoon leader ordered Brown to swerve right. The Humvee Brown was driving hit a boulder and rolled over twice, ejecting everyone aboard. Brown was evacuated by helicopter and died of internal injuries in route to the hospital.
As Jeremy was preparing to leave for his second tour of duty in Iraq, he told his mother that he had a responsibility to the younger soldiers who would see war for the first time. “He said, ‘I have to go, I have to”’ she said. “He said, ’Mom, I don’t know if you realize this or not, but there are 18- and 19-year-old kids who are going to be scared. I’m a veteran.”’
Jeremy was in Iraq for most of 2003 and part of 2004, then came back to the United States for a year. He returned to Iraq in February. Brown’s mother said he was scheduled to leave the military in October 2006.
As strongly as Jeremy Brown wanted to join the military as a teenager fresh out of Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, he wanted to leave it next year to be a dad, according to his family. He met his wife, Rosemary, also an Iraq veteran, in Korea. They were married in January 2003, before his first tour in Iraq. The couple were supposed to close on their new home in Fredericksburg, Va the week he died. His son from a previous relationship lives in Ohio with his mother.
Army officials visited Teresa Brown’s home July 3rd to deliver the news as family members were gathering for Independence Day events. The Fourth of July has changed forever, she said. “It was shocking ... one of those things you never want to deal with.” She said she was comforted to know he didn’t suffer. “He would have never wanted to be captured or shot or come back home missing limbs.”
Jeremy is also survived by two brothers, including a twin, Jason. Jason Brown said he encouraged his brother to stay in the military for another 10 years so he could retire and move on to another career. “He told me that if it wasn’t for the time away from his son he wouldn’t mind spending time over there. He felt like he was doing some good over there,” Jason Brown said.
According to his family you never saw Jeremy without his trademark Dr Pepper. So this 4th of July raise your Dr Pepper and remember SSG Jeremy Brown.
Jeremy A. Brown is buried beside his father John Alexander Brown, a Vietnam War veteran at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens in Beckley.
Jeremy Brown was a soldier’s soldier…
Let us remember him, his family and always...
Say his name.
Capt. David E. Van Camp
29, US Army
June 29 marks the anniversary of the passing of Capt. David E. Van Camp, 29, US Army. We Honor him and his late mother Linda Van Camp both of Wheeling WV. David was born Feb 11th 1982 and died June 29th 2011 in Badrah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with indirect fire. He was deployed in support of Operation New Dawn.
Capt. Van Camp graduated from Wheeling Park High School in 2000. He earned his commission as an armor officer from Marion Military Institute in Marion, Al., in 2002 and graduated from Marshall University in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.
He was the commander of Grim Troop, 2ndSquadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, of Fort Hood, Texas. David previously deployed to Iraq from December 2005 to August 2006 with 2ndSquadron, 4th Infantry Division, of Fort Carson, Colo., where he sustained combat-related injuries.
While in high school David was a member of Wheeling Park’s baseball team, and his mother never missed a game. “Oh, I went to every game, even if a friend would yell at me because she wanted to do something else. I went to every game,” his mother Linda Van Camp said. “From Little League through high school, I loved watching David play baseball because he loved it so much.
“I told my friends then that I wanted to watch him then because he wasn’t going to be playing for the rest of his life. But he was playing then, and I made sure I was there,” she continued. “He always loved putting on that uniform, and he played the game the way it was supposed to be played. I just knew that he would be going off to do what he was going to do after high school, so I wanted to be there for him while he was still here at home.”
Robby Given was a close friend of David’s, and even during their high school days he noticed that David had set himself apart from his favorite group of friends. “There were seven or eight of us, and it was just like you’ve seen in the movies because we were all together every single day doing whatever it was we wanted to do,” Givens recalled. “And David and I played baseball together, and when I think about Dave back in high school, I knew he was an upstanding guy who was just as ornery and goofy as the rest of us, but there was a difference with him. “He didn’t have the wishy-washy and questionable values that the rest of had at that time. We were still trying to figure out who we were, but he always seemed to already know who he was,” he said. “We all respected that about him. He was already an adult. David was already a man. He carried himself differently, and that’s not something I realized after his death. I realized that even back then.”
Van Camp’s lasting memory lives on through the Captain David Van Camp Memorial Foundation, which was founded shortly after his death. Through the work of the foundation, each year one Wheeling Park baseball player receives a $2500 scholarship to further their education. David was a multi-year letterwinner and team captain for the Patriots during his time there. His affection for baseball made the decision of who to present the scholarship to an easy one for the foundation.
He was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.
Let us always remember him, his family, and…
Say His name
