Coos Co. Soldier Coming Home, May 11

A 17-year old Coos County youth, who enlisted in the U.S. Army shortly after high school in 1950 and was killed a year later in one of the bloodiest battles of the Korean War, will be buried Friday, May 15, in the Roseburg National Cemetery after DNA testing positively identified his remains in April. Ben Lee Brown, who grew up in the Four Mile area south of Bandon, was deployed in 1951 to help fight the Communist push by North Korea. His unit was positioned in a deep valley to support South Korean troops. On the night of Feb. 11, 1951, the Chinese and North Koreans launched a massive surprise attack trapping the soldiers in the valley. Brown’s remains came back to the United States in 1993 as part of more than 200 coffins returned through a treaty with North Korea. However, there was more than one service-member in each coffin making identification difficult. Brown’s remains were positively matched to his brother and sister. Military officials say there are still more than 7,800 Americans who fought in the three-year war unaccounted for. Three dozen of those missing are from Oregon.