Family.
At 84, retired Sgt. Maj. Stephen C. Drown of Enterprise may not have the greatest memory of his time in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army, but what he does remember is how much he missed his family.
“I think my greatest memory of all the years I was in is, probably, how much I missed my family. It was hard being away from them. Tough times,” Drown said as tears welled up in his eyes. He has been married to his wife, Mary, for 64 years and they have four children—all of whom were born in different countries during his multiple assignments overseas.
At only 17 years-old, Drown enter the U.S. Navy in 1948 after the end of World War II. As a seaman he served as a boiler technician of a light cruiser, the USS Worcester (CL-144) and traveled around the world, but not before the ship and its crew it took part in the Korean War.
The Worcester operated with the Seventh Fleet off Korea, escorting Task Force 77’s aircraft carriers and using her six-inch guns to bombard enemy targets in support of the Inchon Invasion and the Wonsan Landings before it steamed around the world. Drown said it was scary at times, but since he was in the boiler rooms he does not have much active memory of that time and is simply humbled that he was in a “support role” during such important events in history.
On ussworcester.com, the important battles the ship was involved in are documented. Drown remembers some about the Inchon Invasion. The website states the 14,000 ton cruiser served in “support of the amphibious assault on North Korean forces in the Inchon and Seoul areas of Korea. The daring strike, aimed at outflanking the North Korean invaders by a strategic landing behind their lines in South Korea, was masterminded by General Douglas McArthur.” The invasion involved some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels and led to the recapture of the South Korean capital of Seoul.
Drown went on to leave the Navy in 1952 and returned to farming with his father in Massachusetts for a brief time. He lamented that it was “hard, hard times” and that he eventually joined the U.S. Army, enlisting as a private first-class. “Back in those days, times were hard. It was something I had to do,” he said, adding that he did not want to return to navy service because he very much disliked being at sea for months at the time and that making rank in the navy was very difficult.
Beginning his 24-year army career at Fort Dix, N.J., Drown served tours in Turkey, Korea, Germany and Vietnam. He was a first sergeant while in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969, stationed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base—a Republic of Vietnam Air Force facility located near the city of Saigon in southern Vietnam and used by the U.S. Armed Forces as a major base during the war. Drown said he had many enlisted men under his command. He said they would fly out to different sites in Vietnam to check on the troops and it was at those times, he said, they were most in danger.
One of his most poignant memories of his time in Vietnam occurred not because of enemy fire, but rather friendly fire. Though the communist North Vietnamese forces did attack the base from time to time, the major incident he witnessed was the destruction of barracks directly across from his own. Drown quietly said, “It took the barracks out and killed a lot of people. It was friendly fire.”
Eventually, Drown came to Fort Rucker where he served as a sergeant major in the Department of Academic Training. He remembers the post being filled with barracks and fixed wing aircraft—that were being phased out—and UH-1 Hueys. He served on Fort Rucker for eight years, retiring in 1980.
Following retirement, Drown owned and operated muffler shops in Enterprise, Ozark, and Daleville for eight years before starting The Diner in Daleville in the mid-1990s. Continuing to speak humbly of himself, he said the credit for the still successful restaurant all goes to the employees. “The way the Diner became so successful is because of the help. I give them all the credit. They are the ones that made it,” he said with more tears of gratitude in his eyes and a wide smile on his face.
The retired sergeant major received the Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal (seven awards), the National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, Vietnamese Service Medal, Vietnamese Campaign Medal and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm and the Meritorious Service Medal during his years of service.
To view a video of Drown's naval ship operating during the Korean War, follow this link:
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