By TOM PATTERSON
Martinsville Bulletin Staff Writer

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Demarkus D. Brown will be remembered as always having a smile on his face and proud of his service to his country.

And, of course, as "Chicken."

Brown, 22, who was killed Friday while serving in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, earned his nickname as a two-sport athlete at the former Laurel Park High School, according to his wrestling coach, Curtis Gore.

"I gave him the nickname his first practice in the ninth grade," Gore said on Monday. "Everything he did, he would just flop around like a chicken with his head cut off."

Some people might have tried to shrug off the name, but Brown added it to his trademark grin to form an immutable identity.

"I recall that when he first introduced himself he referred to himself by his nickname, 'Chicken.' We would kid about that,"said former Laurel Park Principal Ben Gravely.

"No one will ever forget that he was 'Chicken,'" said former Laurel Park Booster Club President Ardys Winslow. "I had to look up in an annual to find out that he was Demarkus Brown."

But Brown's actions, not his nickname, are what people remember most about him.

"He was always a person you could turn to to make a gray day bright. He was an outstanding young man Ñ someone you could count on," Winslow said.

Both Winslow and Frank Scott, Brown's former track coach at Laurel Park, said Brown was the type of man any mother and father would be proud to call their son.

"First of all, I'm devastated. He's one of the finest student-athletes I had the opportunity to coach," Scott said.

"He always wanted to please you. He'd take on any event or any challenge. Even though he was short, he took on distance running where he had to work extra hard. I can see him right now hitting the last turn on a final lap running hard to the finish. That's the type of kid he was," Scott said.

His inauspicious start in wrestling aside, Brown blossomed into a crowd favorite by his senior year, Gore said.

"He could constantly roll people" whenever he was on his back, Gore said, and the crowd would cheer for him to do it.

Brown also won the Ironman Wrestling Tournament his senior year, which is one of the more prestigious awards in the area, he added.

"He came out of nowhere and beat everybody," Gore said.

Brown enlisted in the Marines after graduating from Laurel Park in 2000, and was enthusiastic about his chosen profession.

"I saw him right before he enlisted. He was very excited about joining the military," Scott said.

"It was something he was proud to do. He always gave it his all," Winslow said. " ... This makes this war even more a reality. It hits our community Ñ it hits our home. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, we were a village at Laurel Park. It's a great loss."

Local Marine recruiter Sgt. Kathy Perdue said Brown was the epitome of what a Marine is and loved his job.

"He chose to be in the infantry," Perdue said. "I talked to him two weeks ago because he requested to come home to do recruiter's assistance. He was in good spirits. He was glad to have been over there but was ready to come home."

Brown previously had worked with Perdue as a recruiter's assistant, she said, and he always came by the recruiter's office when he was home.

Being a recruiter's assistant was "a way for him to stay at home longer and talk about being a Marine, Perdue said. "He enjoyed talking about the Marines. He came in quite often on the weekends to help me any way that he could.

"He's definitely going to be missed," she added. "He was the type of person you wanted to be around. He was very positive, never sad and had a great smile. He will be missed by friends, family and the Marine Corps."

From the Martinsville Bulletin, Monday, November 29th, 2004.

Farewell for a true hero

By DOUGLAS HAIRSTON
Bulletin Staff Writer

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day (2 Timothy 4: 7,8).

Twenty-two-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Demarkus D. Brown was remembered Sunday as a hero, soldier and a determined athlete in a funeral service highlighted with military honors.

More than 1,000 family and church members, former classmates and friends, military officials and others, including state Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, turned out at the Greater International Pentecostal Holiness Church on Carver Road to observe the life and death of the former Laurel Park High School graduate who many people affectionately called "Chicken."

Brown was laid to rest In uniform in a service characterized by spirited celebration and spontaneity mixed with the formality of a Marine honor guard. Brown was killed Nov. 19 by insurgents in Iraq's Al Anbar Province, which includes the city of Fallujah.

The son of Chynita Belcher of Martinsville and Donald E. Brown of Jacksonville, Fla., Demarkus Brown was remembered for an uplifting spirit, smile and playfulness that was sustained early on by a sense of purpose and destiny.

Prior to the service, Brown's cousin, Donna Robertson of Ferrum, said "Mark was a very likable person that was full of life, laughter and charm. Everybody that met him loved him.

"He talked about being in the military all his life," Robertson added.

Another relative, speaking during the service, said she recalled Brown as a child standing up, saluting and marching, saying, "'I want to be a military man.'"

Retired educator and former Laurel Park High School track and field coach Frank Scott directed the attention of the assembly to a picture of Brown at the bottom of the program. The picture depicts Brown in LPHS track uniform sprinting during a Piedmont District track meet.

Although a man of small stature, Brown displayed compact muscle and a sprinter's poise. "Look at his stature," boasted Scott. "Look at his neck, his shoulders, his chest, his focus. He knew what he was going to do."

Brown ran the anchor leg of the 4 x 400 relay team, said Scott. He remembers Brown telling him that day, " 'If I get the baton ... I'm going to win.' And he won," recalled Scott.

Several speakers remarked about the nickname "Chicken."

Given to him by his wrestling coach early in high school because of Brown's initial lack of coordination, Brown embraced the name and wore it with pride, said Ardys Winslow, former LPHS booster's club president.

Some people might have tried to shrug off the name, but Brown added it to his trademark grin to form an immutable identity, wrestling coach Curtis Gore said last week.

"He was no chicken," said Pastor Marvin Slade. "If he was a chicken, he was a bold chicken."

Brown's mother had asked that the nickname not be included in the program, Winslow said. But she persuaded her to put it in. "That was the only name that many knew him by," Winslow said.

Of the many songs sung on Sunday, one powerful duet, performed by Delphina Roberts and Johnny Philpott, appeared to capture the sentiments of many of the speakers:

Did you ever know that you're my hero/

and everything I'd like to be/

I can fly higher than an eagle/

'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

Elder Marshall L. Wells, Jr., who gave the eulogy, drew on Brown's military heroism and high school track exploits to challenge the assembly "to fight the good fight and run the good race.

"We all got a race to finish," he said, adding that "we are pilgrims ... and death is just a vehicle to take us home."

Following the service Reynolds called Brown "a Virginia hero." He came to the service to express his appreciation for Brown's courage and sacrifice and to support Brown's family. "Their loss was also the community's loss."