PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — When the U.S. Army in South Korea needs to tune up a tank engine or overhaul a Humvee it’ll now have a big new maintenance shop at Camp Carroll in Waegwan.

Officials say the 16-bay, 52,000- square-foot, “state-of-the-art” building is easier to use than the set of old structures — one of them a vinyl maintenance tent — they’ve relied on for decades.

They’re naming the two-story, $9.8 million building the Private First Class Melvin L. Brown Maintenance Facility after the private who received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions in September 1950 against North Korean troops north of Daegu.

The Army will use the new building to perform maintenance on the prepositioned stocks of tanks, trucks and other military vehicles maintained at Camp Carroll by the U.S. Army Field Support Battalion – North East Asia.

The APS-4 stocks are kept ready for use in case of war and include vehicles and other equipment for a heavy brigade combat team, as well as other gear, ammunition, medical and other supplies.

“The facility has many features that will enable us to be more efficient, and safe and productive,” said Lt. Col. Karl D. Bopp, the battalion’s commander.

Among its features are four overhead bridge cranes, floor- mounted vehicle hoists, a backup power system, a central lubrication system and a small arms workshop.

In addition, it has larger-than-standard bays, each big enough to hold either an Abrams tank, a Bradley fighting vehicle or a heavy truck.

Each bay can also fit two medium trucks or up to four Humvees.

The cranes will make it much easier to move engine blocks and armored turrets while the lifts will simplify work on the undersides of vehicles, he said.

“It’s also much more well-lit and roomy, which creates a more efficient working environment,” Bopp said.

Construction began in July 2006. A ceremonial opening is set for 2 p.m. Feb. 26, and one of the scheduled speakers is Brown’s sister, Sylvia Rich of Moline, Ill.

Actual vehicle maintenance will begin early next month, Bopp said.

Young soldier ‘clearly a hero’

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — The maintenance facility set to open soon at Camp Carroll is being named for a young American soldier who earned the Medal of Honor during the Korean War battle of the Pusan Perimeter.

Pfc. Melvin L. Brown was 19 when he was killed in action in September 1950, on the hilltop site of centuries-old Gasangangseon Fortress, about 10 miles north of Daegu.

Born Feb. 22, 1931, in Mahaffey, Pa., Brown was a Browning automatic rifleman with Company D, 8th Engineer Combat Battalion.

According to Army records, on Sept. 4, 1950, while his platoon was securing the hill, North Korean forces counterattacked.

Brown positioned himself at a wall and poured heavy fire on the attackers.

At one point about 15 or 20 attackers lay dead around his position. According to an Army account of the engagement, when a sergeant asked him what happened, Brown answered: “Every time they came up I knocked them off the wall.”

Brown suffered a shoulder wound earlier in the day but had bandaged it and insisted on staying at his position. Out of ammunition, he threw grenades at the attackers, inflicting many casualties.

His buddies tossed more grenades his way to use. Brown moved from his position under fire to retrieve them, then threw them at the enemy. Nevertheless, the enemy pressed on.

With his grenades gone, Brown drew his entrenching shovel, then waited, calmly.

One by one, as North Korean troops peered over a wall, Brown dealt each a blow to the head, taking out about a dozen.

That inspired his platoon and they beat back the attack and held their position.

He was later found dead and the next day, Sept. 5, was officially reported killed in action.

He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on Feb. 16, 1951.

Naming a new maintenance facility for Brown at Camp Carroll in Waegwan was especially fitting in part because Brown fought and died in the Daegu-Waegwan region, said Lt. Col. Karl D. Bopp, commander of the Army Field Support Battalion – North East Asia at Camp Carroll. The battalion will operate the new facility.

“He was an engineer but he was also a diesel mechanic so there’s a maintenance connection with what he did in the Army, and he was clearly a hero,” said Bopp.

“And,” he said, “I think it’s just inspirational to the work force and anybody involved in the maintenance operation to name it after Melvin Brown.”

— Franklin Fisher