Bernard Brown was born in Portland, Oregon in 1924 and moved to Salem, Oregon with his family when he was 13 years old. His father was an optometrist who was able to provide well for Brown and his three older siblings during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. For fun, he played baseball and swam. He eventually became a certified swim instructor by the Red Cross. Brown was in high school when Pearl Harbor was attacked [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He was too young to realize the meaning of America going to war. After Brown graduated from high school, he received a draft card in the summer of 1943. He then took a test to be admitted into a college training program [Annotator's Note: the Army Specialized Training Program, or ASTP] which he passed. He was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia where he took 13 weeks of basic training then went to Boulder, Colorado where he took another test related to his ASTP placement. He was sent to Oklahoma A&M [Annotator's Note: now Oklahoma State University] in Stillwater, Oklahoma where he studied engineering for eight to nine months until the ASTP was disbanded. Brown had a hard time being away from home, so he corresponded with his family frequently. Brown enjoyed his experience at college. He was notified that the program was cancelled and was given an alternative to join the Air Force if he passed the tests. After Brown passed the Air Force examination, he waited for orders, but soon was given noticed that the Air Force program was cancelled too due to the progress of the war. Brown was then sent to Camp Howze in Cooke County, Texas [Annotator's Note: Camp Howze in Gainesville, Texas; now Gainesville municipal airport] where underwent additional infantry training. The weather there was warm weather, and the terrain was flat. It was at Camp Howze that Brown joined Company I, 3rd Battalion, 410th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division as an M1919 machine gunner [Annotator's Note: Browning M1919 .30 caliber air cooled light machine gun]. He did maneuvers and night patrol training in Texas. Brown was well trained for combat. He often wrote to three girls, especially a neighborhood friend. When he returned home on furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], he spent time with her and took her on a date.

From Camp Howze [Annotator's Note: Camp Howze in Gainesville, Texas; now Gainesville municipal airport], Bernard Brown and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company I, 3rd Battalion, 410th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division] went to New Jersey. Being Jewish, he was given two sets of dog tags, one that identified him a Jewish and one that identified him as a Protestant. He was told to get rid of the Jewish dog tags if he was captured or the Germans would kill him. He boarded a transport ship from Fort Dix, New Jersey and steamed for Marseilles, France. Brown did not get sick on the ride across the Atlantic Ocean. His accommodations were not luxurious; they were small and closed in. It took about two weeks to get across the ocean to Marseilles [Annotator's Note: Marseilles, France]. Upon arriving, Brown was immediately introduced to combat when German bombers flew over and attacked the transport, they were aboard. Fortunately, no one in Brown's group was injured. After going ashore, Brown and his group marched inland and bivouacked [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite] for a few weeks then went on the offensive in the Vosges Mountains in France. Brown fought in the Vosges Mountains, through the Siegfried Line [Annotator's Note: a series of defensive fortifications roughly paralleling the Franco-German border built by Germany in the 1930s] and into Germany. As a machine gunner, Brown's job was to mount his machine gunner near his foxhole and if the enemy was coming in his direction, he was ordered to open fire on them to protect the riflemen. Brown does not recall specific details of his time in combat, but he recalled that it was cold, and the Germans were wearing white to blend into the snow. The American machine guns were slower than the German machine guns. Brown, having taken two years of German in high school, was asked to interrogate three German prisoners. He was able to get information from them because they were ready to go home. Two of the Germans were around 19 years old, while the other German was 54 years old. The German defenses were strong, but they began to slow down as the Americans fought through the Siegfried Line. Brown's company had tank support during this time.

Bernard Brown and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company I, 3rd Battalion, 410th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division] were given some rest in January 1945, so Brown went on leave to London, England and visited his brother who was a transport pilot. He had some relatives in London that he spent time visiting with too. He returned to Germany to take part in the last push of combat before World War 2 ended. In early 1945, Brown was wounded when he was hit in the leg by shrapnel from a German artillery round. The wound was not serious, and he remained with his outfit after being patched up by the medic. He was given a French Legion of Honor [Annotator's Note: highest French order of merit; est. 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte] but does not know why he was given the medal. He was also given the Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy] for his wound and a Bronze Star [Annotator's Note: the Bronze Star Medal is the fourth-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy]. Following the German surrender, Brown and his group were sent to Le Havre, France to prepare for shipment back to the United States. The plan was to re-deploy them to the Pacific, but Japanese surrendered before they returned to the United States. Brown was happy when America dropped the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] because he was ready to go home. Brown was then transferred to the 45th Infantry Division and served on occupation duty for a short time as an interpreter until returning to the United States in the fall of 1945. Brown was then assigned to a military facility in Brownsville, Texas as a clerk for a few weeks. He was discharged on 4 December 1945 with the rank of PFC [Annotator's Note: Private First Class]. He had no intentions to pursue a military career. He used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] and took insurance. Brown was looking forward to getting home and marry a girl. He worked for his father. His wife took training in bookkeeping and accounting.

In the last weeks of the war, Bernard Brown, and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company I, 3rd Battalion, 410th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division] headed to Austria. During that time, Brown had a frightening experience. Being Jewish, he carried two sets of dog tags with him, one that identified him a Jewish and one that identified him as a Protestant. When his group got word that they were about to be attacked by elements of the 6th SS Division Nord [Annotator's Note: German 6th SS Mountain Division "Nord", Waffen Schutzstaffel German paramilitary organization], Brown buried the tags that identified him a Jewish and donned the other set. Fortunately, the expected attack never materialized. After the war, Brown suffered from nightmares about his experience in World War 2

Bernard Brown's most memorable experience of World War 2 was when he was called back from the front lines to be used as a German interpreter. Brown fought because the government needed him to. It was required as an American citizen to fight for his country. Brown would not have volunteered to fight. The war changed him by being less judgmental on others and treat people well. Brown is thankful that he took part in World War 2 and helped protect his country. He wanted to perform his duty well. When Brown discovered what happened to the European Jews, it changed his perspective on Germans. After he transferred to the 45th Infantry Division, he saw the Dachau prisoners [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany] when his division helped liberate them. Brown believes it was necessary for American to get involved in World War 2 so the world would not be overpowered by a dictatorship. He believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.