I knew Marvin Zion Brock when he was in the 5th or 6th grade, when he attended Pine Hill School located about 7 miles north of Bainbridge, Georgia. He was known as "Pee Wee" by most people, but I stuck him with the name "Chew Tobacco Brock" because even at that age once he was out of sight of any teachers he immediately had a plug (a chaw, we called it) of tobacco in his mouth. I remember him as being small and quiet and serious most of the time--or perhaps he was just that way around those of us who were a bit older than he was. I don't know anything about his personal life, except that when he attended Pine Hill he lived with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Lawson Brock, neighbors who had a small farm about 2 miles from our family farm. And like most of us, after high school he left Bainbridge to live in Tallahassee, Florida, the nearest city of any size. For those of you who served with him or knew him, he is buried at Mt. Zion Baptist Church off Highway 27 about 5 miles north of Bainbridge, Georgia. Stop by sometime. He was the only one of the Pine Hill Community boys to die in Vietnam, though if he were still alive he would be saddened to know that two of his childhood friends (Johnny Donalson and Paul Dawson) died shortly after returning from the war, and several more Bainbridge soldiers whom he probably knew died in Vietnam. Pee Wee's grandparents have been dead for many years now, but their little house is still standing. The beautiful woods that stood behind their house are gone now, turned into ugly fields that stretch for hundreds of acres. And there aren't many of us Pine Hill Boys left now, but we remember Pee Wee. And, like all the other graves at Mt. Zion, his grave is kept clean.
 

Wednesday, February 20, 2002

Glenn Johnson- Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall