Army Cpl. Henry L. Brown

Died April 8, 2003 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

---

22, of Natchez, Miss.; assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 64th Field Artillery Regiment, Fort Stewart, Ga.; died April 8 of wounds received in action that same day south of Baghdad.

---

When Henry Brown left for the war, his mom made sure the onetime Sunday school teacher from Natchez, Miss., packed his Bible. Every time they talked, she’d ask him whether he was praying and reading the Good Book. She raised him to stand strong, but to lean on God.

The 22-year-old Army corporal died April 8 from injuries he received in an enemy rocket attack south of Baghdad.

Now his mother is trying to practice what she always preached to her only child. “I didn’t have him long, but I thank God for the years I did have him,” said Rhonda James-Brown, 50. “I’m crying, but I have an inner peace. I just know that Henry is with the Lord and his grandma.”

Brown graduated in 1999 from Natchez High School. He joined the Junior ROTC in high school, planning even then to go into the Army. He enlisted after graduation.

Brown met and married his wife, JoDona, in the Army. They were married less than a year. His wife was serving in Kuwait and is now making her way home, Brown’s mother said.

— USA Today and The Associated Press