Corporal Robert Ray Brown served in Germany for one year before volunteering for Vietnam where he was assigned as a mortar man with B Company, 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. He was killed in action fighting the enemy around the Mekong River Delta in an area called Rung Sat Special Zone, just three weeks after arriving in Vietnam.

Robert grew up during a time of change for Frisco, and the nation. He attended the segregated Hamilton School and his first two years of high school at the Frederick Douglass School in Plano. When Frisco schools desegregated, Robert attended and graduated Frisco High School in 1967 where he lettered in football and was a member of Future Farmers of America.

Corporal Brown was the first resident of Frisco to give his life in Vietnam. He received the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart, awarded posthumously. His portrait is displayed in the Collin County Court House as part of the Collin County Fallen Warriors Portrait Project. In 2025, Frisco VFW Post 8273 was named and dedicated in Corporal Brown’s honor.