Charles Edwin Brown Jr. (December 31, 1911 – August 23, 1996) was a major general and

Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army The chief of chaplains of the United States Army (CCH) is the chief supervising officer of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps. (Chaplains do not hold commanding authority.) From 1775 to 1920, chaplains were attached to separate units. The Office of t ...

Biography

Brown graduated from high school in

Kiowa, Kansas Kiowa is a city in Kiowa Township, Barber County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 902. It is located one mile north of the Kansas / Oklahoma state border. History 19th century Kiowa was founde ...

in 1930. In 1934, he graduated from Southwestern College and married Ava Currier. The following year, he was ordained by the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

Military career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Brown served with the 3rd Infantry Division of the Fifth Army during the

North African Campaign The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert Wa ...

and the Italian Campaign. After the war, he was stationed at Fort Oglethorpe. Later, he attended the

United States Army Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

and became the first chaplain to attend the

United States Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army staff college in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, with a Carlisle postal address, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instru ...

. Brown became Chief of Chaplains in 1962 after being promoted to major general from

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

, bypassing the rank of brigadier general. He remained in the position until his retirement in 1967.

References

People from Kiowa, Kansas Chiefs of Chaplains of the United States Army American Methodist clergy United States Army personnel of World War II Southwestern College (Kansas) alumni United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni United States Army War College alumni 1911 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American clergy {{US-army-bio-stub