Scope and Contents

Photocopies of newspaper articles, correspondence, Texas Tech Army ROTC News (1962 - 1974), medals, an oil painting, and a framed photograph document Gerald A. Brown's life from his days in ROTC at Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) to his death in Vietnam in 1967.

Biographical / Historical

Captain Gerald A Brown, a native of Ft. Worth, Texas, was named one of the nation's top ten Army ROTC cadets during his senior year at Texas Tech in 1963. After receiving his commission upon graduation, he served two years in Germany. In 1966, he volunteered for duty in Vietnam. While stationed in Vietnam, he became known as the 'Kool-Aid Kid' because he asked his mother and friends to send him Kool-Aid and other items that he could pass out to the children of Vietnam. His request received a lot of publicity in Ft. Worth and Lubbock. Soon, many of the residents in those cities began sending him supplies. Brown was killed in action on May 16, 1967, three weeks before his tour of duty in Vietnam was to finish.