About 15 years ago, Morgan Odom came to Larry Brown’s house and asked him to join the American Legion.

“I told him I don’t drink anymore. He said I don’t either,” Brown said recently in recalling Odom’s visit.

“Why not just come and be my guest, then I’ll sign you up later,” Brown recalls Odom saying.

“I agreed, and that was 15 years ago.”

Today, Brown, who has lived in Foley for 18 years, serves Post 99 as a chaplain.

Brown was appointed Post 99’s service officer, a position he held for a year, but thought he could serve the Legion better as chaplain.

“Chaplain was a position that took in visiting our sick and disabled veterans,” Brown said.

As chaplain, Brown is on call when families need someone to be there for prayer.

“I have been doing this for 14 years, and have enjoyed it,” Brown said, adding that Post 99 has never been able to find a replacement for him.

Brown was 17 when he joined the Illinois National Guard. Six months later he decided to go into the Regular Army. He was sent to Fort Campbell, Ky., the home of the 101st Division, the “Screaming Eagles.” After basic training, his platoon was sent to Fort Sheridan, Ill., to await orders for overseas.

“Some of the guys would come back from the commander’s office and say if you ask for the Far East you’ll probably get the opposite and go to Europe,” Brown recalls.

“When it was my turn to go to the office, I went in and said, ‘Sir, I would like to go to Korea.’ And guess what? My request was granted. I had a few choice words for my buddies after that bad joke.”

About two weeks later, Brown reported to Camp Stolman, Calif., for departure. He remembers seeing the Golden Gate Bridge as he and fellow soldiers left on the ship. He also remembers the Salvation Army handing out doughnuts and coffee and singing “God Bless America.”

After 14 days aboard ship, Brown reached Yokohama, Japan. Given the choice of being sent to the northern part of Japan, he accepted. He was in cook’s school and in the process of getting his Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) changed to “cook” rather than “light infantryman,” but that didn’t happen.

Brown’s division returned to Korea.

“We were told to draw our weapons at the storeroom and be ready to pull out in 20 minutes. We waited eight days for the Navy to take us to Pusan,  Korea,” Brown said.

After nine months overseas, on July 27, 1953, in Panmunjom, Korea, a cease-fire was effected, but Brown points out 57 years later U.S. troops still guard the border between the two Koreas. On the 50th Anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, Brown received the Korean Commemorative Medal from President Kim Dae-Jung of the Korean Republic.

Larry and his wife, Barbara, were married in Chicago in 1954.

As part of American Legion Post 99, Brown has attended several national conventions as well as the department convention. Newly elected post commander Harold Bryson has recently appointed Brown to the post’s executive committee.

“Larry is very dedicated and dependable,” Bryson said of Brown.

“He faithfully visits the sick in the hospital and takes care of the veterans he knows about.”

Brown has even performed funeral services as Post 99 chaplain, and Bryson points out Post 99 members have acted as pallbearers at funerals.

Asked what he gets out of the American Legion personally today, Brown spoke of his role as Post 99 chaplain.

“I get satisfaction knowing I’ve done something in a personal way for a person who is bed-ridden, with no family and no one coming to see them.”

The American Legion is the largest veterans organization in the U.S. and the auxiliary is considered the largest group of patriotic women.

Legion members are veterans of the U.S. armed forces, including the reserve and National Guard, who served during wartime. Both organizations work together nationwide serving veterans and their families and their local communities.