Author: Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist
Leland L. Brown was born on June 1, 1896, in Northampton County, N.C., to Jerry and Judith E. Conner Brown. Leland’s father worked as a farmer in the small community of Rich Square in Northampton County. At the time of his draft registration for World War I, Leland Brown was working as a road builder for the Road Board in Northampton County, and was still living with his family in Rich Square.
Brown was inducted into military service for World War I in the U.S. Army on September 4, 1917, in Jackson, N.C. He would go through basic training at Camp Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. Brown remained at Camp Jackson into the summer of 1918, when he was sent overseas to Europe on July 31, 1918, with his unit. Brown was assigned to Company F, 306th Engineers, 81st Division, U.S. Army. He served overseas with the 306th Engineers through June 15, 1919, and was honorably discharged on June 20, 1919. Brown reached the rank of private first class on February 1, 1918, and would reach the rank of corporal on June 1, 1918.
After the war, Brown returned to his family’s farm in Rich Square, N.C., and was working as a laborer by 1920. Leland Brown married Grace Baker on December 20, 1927, in Northampton County, N.C. He would work as a salesman and farmer in Rich Square, N.C. Leland L. Brown died on January 7, 1959, and was buried in Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Rich Square, N.C.
To learn more about Leland Brown’s WWI service, check out the Leland Brown Papers (WWI 52) held in the WWI Papers of the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina in Raleigh, N.C.
This blog post is part of the State Archives of North Carolina’s World War I Social Media Project, an effort to bring original WWI archival materials to the public through the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ (NCDNCR) various social media platforms, in order to increase access to the items during the WWI centennial celebration by the state of North Carolina.
Between February 2017 and June 2019, the State Archives of North Carolina will be posting blog articles, Facebook posts, and Twitter posts, featuring WWI archival materials which are posted on the exact 100th anniversary of their creation during the war. Blog posts will feature interpretations of the content of WWI documents, photographs, diary entries, posters, and other records, including scans of the original archival materials, held by the State Archives of North Carolina, and will be featured in NCDNCR’s WWI centennial blog.