Lunsford Bernard Brown II

Specialist Lunsford Bernard Brown II was killed in action on September 20, 2003 when mortars struck an Iraqi prison outside Baghdad during the Iraq War. He was 27 years old.

Lunsford Bernard Brown II was born on February 10, 1976 in Washington, D.C., the son of Lunsford Bernard Brown and Deborah Jefferson Brown.  He graduated from Northern Vance High School in 1994 and attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He married Sherrie T. Wheeler in June 2001.  Their daughter Amber was born in June 2003.

SPC Brown enlisted in the U. S. Army on September 13, 2001, completed basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C. and advanced individual training in Military Intelligence as an electronic intercept analyst at Fort Huachuca, AZ.  He was assigned to Company A, 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 205th Military Intelligence Brigade and was deployed to Heidelberg, Germany and then to Kuwait.  As part of V Corps, the 302nd deployed to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom which began with the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. SPC Brown worked with the Tactical Exploitation System and the Forward Area Support Terminal, providing intelligence to the V Corps commander.  

On September 20,  2003, a mortar attack at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq, wounded thirteen American soldiers and killed two analysts from the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade: SPC Lunsford B. Brown II and Sgt. David T. Friedrich. At 9:54 PM, two 82mm mortar rounds were fired from a major highway beside the prison. One of the mortar blasts hit the MI signals tent where most of the men were lounging off duty. At that time, the commander of the 205th MI Brigade, Col. Thomas Pappas, was holding a meeting in a tent outside unit 1A where the 205th was quartered. SPC Brown, who was serving as Colonel Pappas’ driver that night, absorbed the brunt of the shrapnel, reportedly saving the lives of thirteen soldiers.   Brown’s awards and decorations include: The Bronze Star Medal, The Purple Heart, The Army Commendation Medal, The National Defense Service Medal, and The Army Service Medal.                

Specialist Lunsford B. Brown II is buried in the Circle of Life Cemetery on the Brown family farm in Vance County.  

Last edited: 28 April 2026