The annual Memorial Day Ceremony was held today in the Central Texas Memorial Park. Featured speakers were Navy Commander Chaplain (Retired) Jim Looby and Brownwood Mayor Stephen Haynes. Master of Ceremonies was Bill Yeager, Commander of the local American Legion Post #196. The Memorial Day ceremony is organized and sponsored by the Central Texas Veterans Memorial organization.
The Memorial Day Holiday is held every year to remember and honor those men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
Comments from Mayor Haynes included: “I believe you can judge a community by how they pay tribute to those who make sacrifices for their nation and their community… It is altogether fitting and proper that we pay tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Brown County has 259 military service members who died from World War I forward. Thirty-nine of those were in World War One. One-hundred ninety-eight were in World War II. Eight died in Korea, eleven died in Viet Nam, and three died after September 11, 2001 in service to our country… We stand here today in a freedom that was provided to us by those brave men.”
Comments from Chaplain Looby included: “Today is Memorial Day. It is an opportunity for us to remember, to celebrate, and to give thanks for the dedication of so many people. I have thought to myself, what is the purpose of Memorial Day, year after year after year?… It is a terrible thing to lose troops in a war. But we have a valor in our country that I believe goes unchallenged. It may be difficult at times to understand this, but without a determination to honor our heroes, without a determination on our hearts to recognize and remember what has been done, we lose more than we can even begin to calculate… We are here today because of those Documents (the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence), because we are Americans. We are here today because we are patriots. We are here today because we love and we are dedicated and devoted to our country, and to the ideals that are set out before us in those Documents.”
Three Brown County veterans were honored at today’s ceremony: HM3 Michael A. Teague, Sergeant George Louis Huseman, and his son CW4 George Allen Huseman, and plaques were unveiled. The text of the plaques is shown below.
VFW Auxiliary Post #3278 presented the Patriotic Award, for flying the U.S. Flag daily, to Ag-Mart/Nelson Wholesale. Kevin Chambers Plumbing was honored for volunteer work provided in the construction of the playground and restrooms at the Central Texas Memorial Park.
Recent high school graduate Brenden Sikes was recognized for joining the U.S. Marine Corp. Sikes is the son of Kenny Sikes and Kathy Edwards.
HM3 MICHAEL A. TEAGUE
Silver Star recipient, U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman Third Class (HM3) Michael Autrey Teague, was born in Brownwood on 18 December 1944. He graduated from Brownwood High School in 1963. As a Navy Corpsman, he was attached to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade. His Silver Star was presented for Conspicuous Gallantry and Intrepidity in action in Vietnam on 2 May 1968. While attacking a numerically superior North Vietnamese force, Company G came under intense, accurate sniper fire and sustained numerous casualties. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, HM3 Teague immediately organized an aid station where he skillfully treated and supervised the evacuation of the wounded. He came under a heavy volume of automatic weapons fire and enemy grenades while treating a seriously wounded Marine comrade. Undaunted by the hostile fire Mike continued rendering medical assistance and shielded the wounded man with his own body. Although Mike was seriously wounded, he moved his wounded comrade toward a covered position until Mike was mortally wounded. Michael Teague’s heroic actions, sincere concern for the welfare of his comrades, and selfless devotion to duty were an inspiration to everyone. He gallantly gave his life for his country. He was posthumously promoted to Petty Officer. Michael Autrey Teague is buried in Greenleaf Cemetary in Brownwood. In addition to the Silver Star (the third highest medal for valor after the Medal of Honor and Navy Cross), he received the Purple Heart and many other awards and decorations. Because of his heroic valor, a street named “Teague Place” was dedicated and named for him in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
SERGEANT GEORGE LOUIS HUSEMAN
Sergeant George Louis Huseman was born and raised in Nazareth, Texas, where he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1957. He was initially stationed with Combat Engineers, Camp Walters, and later went on to serve honorably and bravely during the Vietnam era with the 82nd Airborne Division and 7th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg. Sergeant Huseman deployed to Vietnam on missions unknown and served in the Honor Guard for President Kennedy’s funeral. After completing his military service in 1964, George and wife Helen raised four boys on the family farm in Nazareth until moving to Brownwood in 1984, where he worked at Howard Payne University until retiring in 2009. He has continued to serve his community volunteering at Good Samaritan and is active in the Knights of Columbus.
CW4 GEORGE ALLEN HUSEMAN
Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CW4 Retired) George Allen Huseman followed in his father’s footsteps enlisting in the Army in 1985. He served a multitude of roles and units during his 30 year military career, including Squad Leader/Staff Sergeant, 2nd Battalion/75th Ranger Regiment (RLTW), Fort Lewis (1985-1990) where he was directly involved in Operation Snowcap in Central and South America, Team Sergeant and UH-60 Helicopter Pilot with the Texas National Guard 1136th Pathfinders “T Patch”, Camp Mabry, and the Counter Drug Program Unit (Task Unity SOD) (1992-1994), Company Standardization Pilot, C-12, and UC-35 Jet Pilot with the 6th/52nd VIP Unit and 339th Military Intelligence Unit, Fort Hood (1998-2013) and Battalion Aviation Safety Officer/Army Accident Investigation Officer/Battalion Command Chief Warrant Officer with 7th/158th Aviation Battalion, Fort Hood (2013-2015). CW4 Huseman also served as a voting Board Member of the U.S. Army Flight Evaluation Board. He deployed to Bosnia in support of Operation Joint Forge in 2000 and completed four combat tours to Iraq (two as Senior Pilot for the Commanding General and U.S. Ambassador and two with Task Force Odin) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom. After retiring in 2015, George continued to serve the community as a volunteer pilot for Brown County Emergency Management, flew as an EMS pilot, and became owner/operator of Huseman Aviation. He also ran an animal sanctuary with his wife Regina, children and grandchildren until his passing in 2023. We are forever thankful for both of these great men, their bravery, and service.