BROWN, GILBERT L.

NORFOLK, Va. (UP) – A Marine officer from Massachusetts died Tuesday [November 26, 1957] of injuries received when he threw himself on a live hand grenade to protect members of his training unit, the Navy disclosed.

Navy spokesmen said 1st Lt. Gilbert L. Brown Jr. of 870 Belmont St., Watertown, Mass., died in Portsmouth Naval Hospital on Tuesday. He had been unconscious since the accident, which occurred at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in September 1956.

The grenade had been thrown from a practice pit and had rolled into another pit with 11 Marines in it. Brown threw himself over the grenade just before it went off and other occupants of the pit received only minor injuries.

Brown was a career Marine and a veteran of Pacific Theater fighting during World War II. He was the son of Mrs. Gilbert Brown of Watertown, and is survived by his wife and two daughters.