BERRYVILLE — Thomas Brown loves history and has collected numerous items connected with African-American history in his native Clarke County.
Now, the Berryville resident appears to be making history.
Brown, 74, recently joined the Clarke County Honor Guard, a volunteer group of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9760 in Berryville.
The members provide military honors at the funerals of deceased service members and show the colors at special events.
What makes Brown’s joining special is that he’s the first African-American to serve on the post’s Honor Guard.
Berryville’s Honor Guard was created at the Lloyd Williams Post 41 of the American Legion in 1925, according to Mike Linster, who is the current Honor Guard commander.
It was established because a member of the post, a Mr. Fuller, died while on his honeymoon. Though he was World War I veteran, the federal government would not provide military honors for his funeral, because he was no longer on active duty.
So the post and the local National Guard created the Clarke County Honor Guard to give him a final military salute.
In 1949, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9760 joined with the American Legion to staff the Honor Guard.
“We still have one of the original members of the VFW,” Linster said. Walter Rutherford is an honorary member.
Linster said he researched the Honor Guard’s history and, to the best of his knowledge, Brown is the group’s first African-American member.
The Honor Guard has 18 members, including one female, Jessica Tavenner, who plays the bugle, Linster said.
Born in the Clarke County community of White Post, Brown started his two-year Army service in 1966, when he was drafted at age 25.
He served his two years at Fort Knox, where he was trained in cooking and ended up as head cook.
He prepared meals for a thousand people a day.
“Breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Brown said.
When he returned to Clarke, Brown settled on Josephine Street in Berryville with his wife, Rosa, and learned the drywall trade from his minister, pastor Rudolph White.
He also became enamored of the African-American history of his hometown, especially of Benjamin Franklin, one of his wife’s ancestors, who founded Zion Baptist Church in what was then Josephine City.
Brown has found and preserved many mementos of Franklin’s efforts in the community in the early 20th century, as well as other items connected with the town then.
Linster said he asked Brown if he would volunteer for the Honor Guard at the suggestion of one of Brown’s friends.
“I’m always at the funerals anyway,” Brown admitted.
As a child, he can remember the Honor Guard offering the military salute at funerals, so he said he was honored to be asked to be part of the group.
“I have the greatest group in the world,” Linster said of the Honor Guard members. “All I have to do is call, and they show up. They participate because they want to show their respect for their fellow service members.”
So far this year, the Honor Guard has participated in 19 funerals and three special events. They carried the colors at the Clarke County Memorial Day celebration, did the honors at a baseball game at James Wood High School honoring veterans, and saluted a service member who received his World War II medals in a ceremony in Winchester.
“We go wherever we’re called,” Linster said, adding that the Clarke Honor Guard fills in when the Winchester Honor Guard is unavailable.
Linster said the Clarke group is getting up in years, with most of the members in their 60s, 70s and 80s, and Rutherford, who has past the 90 mark.
“They are really wonderful. They show up in all weather — snow, rain, hot, cold.”
Brown said he was proud to have served his country in the Army and now he’s proud to be serving his fellow veterans.
“I’m going to do the best for my comrades,” he said. “Just call me. I’ll be there.”
— Contact Val Van Meter at vvanmeter@winchesterstar.com
