Purple Heart, “Pvt William J. Brown, USMC”

Purple Heart, slot brooch, machine-engraved “Pvt/William J. Brown/USMC”. In an Army-style black leatherette case with ribbon bar and lapel pin.

Private William James Brown, USMC, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, was killed in action on 27 December 1967 in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. Brown’s tour in Vietnam began on 24 October 1967. On 27 December 1967, Lima Company was part of a 3rd Battalion operation (“Badger Tooth”) to sweep the village of Thon Tham Khe. The village held the extensive bunker complex of the 116th Battalion of the NVA, which had let the Marines through the day before, but unleashed their full firepower when the Marines came back. Forty-eight Marines were killed in that battle, one of the greatest single-day losses suffered by the Marines to that point in the war. Private Brown was from Baltimore, Maryland.