A ceremony dedicating a section of West Austin Avenue as a memorial street will be held at 8:15 AM on Saturday, November 8th at the corner of Booker and West Austin by the Central Fire Station parking lot.

This portion of West Austin will honor the memory of Corporal Eddie Lee Ephraim, the first Brownwood citizen lost as a combat casualty in the Vietnam War.  The ceremony comes forty-six years after his death, as the Brownwood City Council unanimously approved the Ephraim family’s request to publically recognize the service and memory of Ephraim in August of this year.

According to information from the family, Ephraim enlisted in the Army during his senior year at Brownwood High School with the permission of his mother Edna.  Upon graduation, he left for basic training at Ft. Polk, Louisiana where he became a member of the elite 101 Airborne Division, The Screaming Eagles.  He was barely 20-years-old when he died in combat in South Vietnam on March 28, 1968.  Corporal Ephraim was recognized with the following awards:  Parachutist Badge, National Defense Service Medal, Purple Heart, Vietnam Service Medal and Vietnam Campaign Ribbon Infantryman.