PFC WILLIAM "BILL" E. BROWNING, 56, of Tampa died Saturday. A native of Tampa, he was a lineman for GTE, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War and a member of Paralyzed Veterans of America. He is survived by a son, Roger of Orlando; two sisters, Geraldine Gonzalez of Wimauma and Barbara Jackson of Lutz; and a brother, Floyd of Ocala. Blount, Curry & Roel Funeral Homes, Carrollwood Chapel,
Tampa.
William Ellis Browning was a member of Company D 1-22 4th
Infantry Division US Army. He started his tour in Vietnam on July 17th, 1968, and was seriously wounded on Aug 1, 1968. William was a star athlete at Chamberlain High School in Tampa excelling in football and basketball, he graduated from school in 1962. William died as result of his wounds on May 6, 2000, he was 56 years old. Shot in combat in August 1968, Ellis was suddenly, at age 24, after only weeks in Vietnam, a quadriplegic who would never get better. Though bedridden, he eventually learned to use a voice-activated computer at home in Seffner, where his family cared for him. He tried to be upbeat. He loved the TV game show "Jeopardy." He couldn't push buttons the way the contestants did, but "he'd make this clucking noise in his mouth with the answers, and most of the time he was right," said his niece, Roxi Johansmeyer. When Browning's paralysis finally hastened his death in May 2000, Johansmeyer didn't think it was right that his name would be left off the Vietnam War memorial, the nation's most-visited monument. The memorial lists the names of Americans killed or presumed dead in a war that now appears in seventh-grade history books. So she started writing letters and making phone calls. The Defense Department wanted to see his medical records to make sure they could link his early death to what happened in Vietnam. Finally, a stonecutter etched his name into the granite memorial on the Mall, not far from the Lincoln Memorial and within sight of the Washington Monument, bringing the number 58,249.
Tampa.
William Ellis Browning was a member of Company D 1-22 4th
Infantry Division US Army. He started his tour in Vietnam on July 17th, 1968, and was seriously wounded on Aug 1, 1968. William was a star athlete at Chamberlain High School in Tampa excelling in football and basketball, he graduated from school in 1962. William died as result of his wounds on May 6, 2000, he was 56 years old. Shot in combat in August 1968, Ellis was suddenly, at age 24, after only weeks in Vietnam, a quadriplegic who would never get better. Though bedridden, he eventually learned to use a voice-activated computer at home in Seffner, where his family cared for him. He tried to be upbeat. He loved the TV game show "Jeopardy." He couldn't push buttons the way the contestants did, but "he'd make this clucking noise in his mouth with the answers, and most of the time he was right," said his niece, Roxi Johansmeyer. When Browning's paralysis finally hastened his death in May 2000, Johansmeyer didn't think it was right that his name would be left off the Vietnam War memorial, the nation's most-visited monument. The memorial lists the names of Americans killed or presumed dead in a war that now appears in seventh-grade history books. So she started writing letters and making phone calls. The Defense Department wanted to see his medical records to make sure they could link his early death to what happened in Vietnam. Finally, a stonecutter etched his name into the granite memorial on the Mall, not far from the Lincoln Memorial and within sight of the Washington Monument, bringing the number 58,249.
PFC WILLIAM "BILL" E. BROWNING, 56, of Tampa died Saturday. A native of Tampa, he was a lineman for GTE, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War and a member of Paralyzed Veterans of America. He is survived by a son, Roger of Orlando; two sisters, Geraldine Gonzalez of Wimauma and Barbara Jackson of Lutz; and a brother, Floyd of Ocala. Blount, Curry & Roel Funeral Homes, Carrollwood Chapel,
Tampa.
William Ellis Browning was a member of Company D 1-22 4th
Infantry Division US Army. He started his tour in Vietnam on July 17th, 1968, and was seriously wounded on Aug 1, 1968. William was a star athlete at Chamberlain High School in Tampa excelling in football and basketball, he graduated from school in 1962. William died as result of his wounds on May 6, 2000, he was 56 years old. Shot in combat in August 1968, Ellis was suddenly, at age 24, after only weeks in Vietnam, a quadriplegic who would never get better. Though bedridden, he eventually learned to use a voice-activated computer at home in Seffner, where his family cared for him. He tried to be upbeat. He loved the TV game show "Jeopardy." He couldn't push buttons the way the contestants did, but "he'd make this clucking noise in his mouth with the answers, and most of the time he was right," said his niece, Roxi Johansmeyer. When Browning's paralysis finally hastened his death in May 2000, Johansmeyer didn't think it was right that his name would be left off the Vietnam War memorial, the nation's most-visited monument. The memorial lists the names of Americans killed or presumed dead in a war that now appears in seventh-grade history books. So she started writing letters and making phone calls. The Defense Department wanted to see his medical records to make sure they could link his early death to what happened in Vietnam. Finally, a stonecutter etched his name into the granite memorial on the Mall, not far from the Lincoln Memorial and within sight of the Washington Monument, bringing the number 58,249.
Tampa.
William Ellis Browning was a member of Company D 1-22 4th
Infantry Division US Army. He started his tour in Vietnam on July 17th, 1968, and was seriously wounded on Aug 1, 1968. William was a star athlete at Chamberlain High School in Tampa excelling in football and basketball, he graduated from school in 1962. William died as result of his wounds on May 6, 2000, he was 56 years old. Shot in combat in August 1968, Ellis was suddenly, at age 24, after only weeks in Vietnam, a quadriplegic who would never get better. Though bedridden, he eventually learned to use a voice-activated computer at home in Seffner, where his family cared for him. He tried to be upbeat. He loved the TV game show "Jeopardy." He couldn't push buttons the way the contestants did, but "he'd make this clucking noise in his mouth with the answers, and most of the time he was right," said his niece, Roxi Johansmeyer. When Browning's paralysis finally hastened his death in May 2000, Johansmeyer didn't think it was right that his name would be left off the Vietnam War memorial, the nation's most-visited monument. The memorial lists the names of Americans killed or presumed dead in a war that now appears in seventh-grade history books. So she started writing letters and making phone calls. The Defense Department wanted to see his medical records to make sure they could link his early death to what happened in Vietnam. Finally, a stonecutter etched his name into the granite memorial on the Mall, not far from the Lincoln Memorial and within sight of the Washington Monument, bringing the number 58,249.
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