Toombs County, Georgia History and Genealogy Project

Toombs County, Georgia

Local man lone Georgian in Flanders Field

"Flanders is the name of the whole western part of Belgium," wrote essayist Rob Ruggenberg in an article entitled The Making of the Poem. "It is flat country where people speak Flemish, a kind of Dutch. Flanders holds old and famous cities like Antwerp, Bruges and Ypres. It is an ancient battleground. For centuries the fields of Flanders have been soaked with blood."

The poem, which has been called "the most memorable war poem ever written," was composed by Maj. John McCrae, a surgeon attached to the Canadian 1st Field Artillery Brigade.

Letter From Belgium to Vidalia

Written by one Patrick Lernout, the letter carried the salutation "Sir, Mrs" and began: "First of all, I want to apologize for my bad English." But no apology was in order, for Mr. Lernout's English turned out to be virtually flawless.

"I live in Belgium in the city of Wargram," Mr. Lernout wrote. "In our city is the U.S. Military Cemetery Flanders Field. This is a cemetery with soldiers of World War I. As I am interested in the history of World War I, I got the idea of writing a book about those soldiers, who gave their lives for our freedom.

"So, why am I writing this letter to you? One of the soldiers buried there is Levin (or Leven) Brown. He was from Normantown. Could you help me with information and (perhaps) photos?"... Frank Moore replied to Mr. Lernout at the e-mail address furnished in the letter, telling him that "We are very interested in the connections with Mr. Brown." That was the first of many e-mails exchanged among Mr. Moore, Mr. Lernout, this writer and several other people to unravel the fascinating story of Levin Brown.

Mr. Lernout had done enough research to determine the hometowns of all but a few of the Americans buried in Flanders Field and the states in which all 368 of the men enlisted. He thus was able to say with authority that Levin Brown was the only Georgian buried there.

Toombs Memorial

After the initial communication from Mr. Lernout, a visit to the Toombs County War Memorial seemed in order. The memorial is located at a once-tranquil U.S. Highway 280-east intersection that now, because of the Super Wal-Mart nearby, is one of the busiest in Vidalia.

Carved in marble on the memorial are the names of Toombs County servicemen who lost their lives in one or the other of the two World Wars, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. And, sure enough, Mr. Brown's name is one of the 15 shown for World War I. However, his first name is spelled "Leven," instead of "Levin," on the memorial.

Before any further research could be undertaken, Mr. Lernout e-mailed Frank Moore that he had managed to make contact with a relative of Levin Brown in America through the Internet and, from her, had obtained a copy of a letter Mr. Brown wrote from Belgium to one of his brothers.

Mr. Lernout enclosed as attachments to his e-mail to Mr. Moore both a copy of Levin Brown's letter to his brother and a photograph of Levin's grave marker -- cross-shaped, like all the others -- in Flanders Field. The date of the letter was Oct. 31, 1918. That was only about six weeks before Levin was killed.

The salutation of the letter was "Dear Bro." The complimentary close was "Your brother, Pvt. L.T. Brown." Levin said he was "well and in good health" and added, "This climate here is fine and the best drinking water in the world."

Since he used the nickname "Bro," it is not known to which of his seven brothers Levin wrote the letter. But he eliminated two as possibilities when he mentioned them by name in the letter. He also referred to one of his two sisters by name.

It turned out that Levin was either the sixth oldest or the seventh oldest of the 10 Brown children, depending on whether he was delivered before or after his twin sister.

The names of Levin Brown's parents, one set of grandparents, one set of great-grandparents, his nine siblings, most of the siblings' spouses, most of the siblings' spouses, and other relatives -- and how all that information came to be known -- will appear in next week's column. There also will be more about Levin himself.

E-mail: raytapley@juno.com

The Advance, Wednesday, January 15, 2003, page 1l.

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