Oklahoma native, Charles Pershing Brown graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1940. During World War II, he commanded the 649th Field Artillery battalion in the Pacific theater. After serving with occupation forces in Japan, he was assigned to the First Army in New York City, where he earned a M.S. in Business Administration from New York University in 1948, and later graduated from the Command and General Staff College. Following an assignment with NATO headquarters in Oslo, Norway, Brown attended the Army War College, completing his studies in 1957. As a Brigadier General in 1963, he served a year in Korea as Assistant Division Commander with the First Cavalry. Promoted to Major General in 1966, he was named Director of the Army Budget in 1967 and returned to Fort Sill. In 1970, he served in Vietnam as Commanding General, First Field Force. In 1971, Brown became senior military advisor to Dr. Phillip Habib, American Ambassador, in Paris at the Vietnamese Peace Negotiations. He then assumed command of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. He retired to Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1975 as its development officer. Ten years later, he was named vice president for University Operations.